Watercraft swim platform with deployable steps
AssigneeChaparral Boats, Inc.
InventorsMichael J. Fafard, Michael Anthony Werle, Justin Everett Brooks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Boats can include a swim platform with an integrated system of steps that can be selectively deployed and retracted. Such platforms can be attached to a transom of a boat or can be fabricated as an extended portion of the boat's hull. In another embodiment, deployable steps can be integrated with a boat's hull as a side-entry door. In order to reconfigure the step system into a deployed configuration, a linkage is actuated that causes the step system to unfold, forming steps (or a seating configuration) at least partially below the water line. Since the steps can be deployed below the water line, a swimmer can more easily get on board the boat.
Claims10
A watercraft comprising:
- a hull including a port side wall and a starboard side wall;
- and
- a system of steps integrated with the port side wall or the starboard side wall and comprising:
- a first platform;
- a second platform;
- and
- a linkage that is pivotably coupled to the hull such that the system of steps is reconfigurable between:
- (a) a closed position in which the system of steps comprises a portion of the port side wall or the starboard side wall and (b) an open position in which an opening in the port side wall or the starboard side wall is created,
- wherein the linkage movably couples the first and second platforms together such that, when the system of steps is in the open position, the first and second platforms are reconfigurable between:
- (i) a retracted configuration in which the system of steps forms a single platform and (ii) a deployed configuration in which the first and second platforms form two steps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.