Retractable trim vane for amphibious vehicle

An amphibious vehicle, comprising:

• a front face;
• a rear face;
• an underside;
• a guide rail affixed to the underside of the armored amphibious vehicle defining a generally horizontal path;
• a trim vane slidably engaged to the guide rail and movable along the guide rail by a horizontal extension assembly between a retracted position in which the trim vane substantially overlaps with the underside of the amphibious vehicle and a deployed position in which the trim vane extends rearward from the amphibious vehicle in a generally horizontal orientation;
• and
• at least one rotatable support rotatably affixed at one end to the rear face and rotatably affixed to the trim vane;
• wherein the rotatable support is oriented in a generally vertical orientation when the trim vane is positioned in the retracted position and oriented in an angled orientation when the trim vane is positioned in the extended position.

A method of deploying a trim vane from an armored amphibious vehicle having a rear side and an underside, comprising:

• affixing at least one guide rail to the external underside of the vehicle, wherein the guide rail comprises an elongated channel defining a generally horizontal path;
• inserting a sliding element of a planar trim vane into the elongated channel such that the elongated channel guides the trim vane in moving along the generally horizontal path;
• affixing a cable to the trim vane;
• activating a winch assembly that is rotatable to wind and unwind the cable onto and off of the winch assembly to move the trim vane between a deployed position and a stowed position;
• sliding the trim vane along the generally horizontal path into to the stowed position in which the trim vane is substantially underneath the underside of the vehicle and is positioned generally parallel to the underside of the vehicle;
• and
• sliding the trim vane along the generally horizontal path into the deployed position in which the trim vane extends rearward from the rear face of the vehicle at a generally horizontal orientation, wherein a portion of the trim vane overlaps with the underside of the vehicle when positioned in the deployed position.