Patent ID: 7159529

Claim:
An inflatable boat defining a bow, a stern, a midsection intermediate the bow and the stern, and a longitudinally-central plane and comprising: a float that is generally U-shaped and open at the stem, and that is made up of at least one pneumatically inflatable tube whose aft ends are braced by a transom; a floor that is rigid at least transversely and that is disposed inside the space defined by the float, and a V-shaped hull formed of a flexible canvas sheet fastened to the float and to the transom and tensioned by a longitudinal inflatable keel-forming spacer interposed between said rigid floor and said canvas sheet; wherein the inflatable keel-forming spacer is formed by at least two elongate, substantially flat inflatable chambers which extend between said rigid floor and said canvas sheet and which have respective lower edges joined together and resting against said canvas sheet and respective upper edges spaced apart transversely and resting against said rigid floor at locations symmetric with respect to the longitudinally-central plane of the boat and, at least in the midsection of the boat, at locations laterally remote from the tube, with said two chambers being together disposed in a substantially V-shaped configuration in cross-section; and wherein said two chambers are each defined by two substantially plane and parallel main walls that are braced by a multitude of flexible ties, said at least two chambers being inflated under a relatively high pressure.