Patent ID: 7552721

Claim:
A personal watercraft, comprising: a hull; a deck disposed on the hull; a bow; a transom; an engine compartment defined between the hull and the deck; a four stroke internal combustion engine disposed in the engine compartment, the engine comprising: a crankcase having a top, a bottom, two sides, and two ends; a crankshaft rotatably mounted in the crankcase between the two ends; a cylinder head housing operatively connected to the top of the crankcase, the crankcase and the cylinder head housing forming at least one combustion chamber therebetween; at least one intake valve for the at least one combustion chamber; at least one exhaust valve for the at least one combustion chamber; a valve actuation assembly located in the cylinder head housing for actuating the at least one intake valve and the at least one exhaust valve; and at least one air intake passageway fluidly connected to the at least one combustion chamber; a propulsion unit operatively coupled to the crankshaft; at least one air intake manifold fluidly connected to the at least one air intake passageway; a flame arrester fluidly connected with the air intake manifold; and a supercharger for boosting air to the at least one air intake manifold fluidly connected with the at least one air intake manifold; and wherein one of the supercharger and the at least one air intake passageway is disposed closer to the bow than at least a portion of the flame arrester; and wherein the other of the supercharger and the at least one air intake passageway is disposed closer to the transom than at least the portion of the flame arrester.