Patent Application
20150033997
The present invention relates to personal watercraft that are powered by hand held paddles, windsurf sails, kite board sails, or waves as in surfing. The invention came about by trying to design a more stable personal watercraft for the beginner and average user but still have sufficient performance for advanced riders. The increased stability facilitates the addition of a removable seat. Many riders get fatigued during prolonged standing, having a seat provides for relief as well as comfort during the use of the water board. We anticipate that any riders will chose to sit the entire time on the board. The popularity of standup paddle boarding has increased dramatically over the last couple of years but has generally been limited to persons with reasonable athletic ability to manage or control the stability of the board while standing and paddling in rough water. Our board will enable a more persons with average or less athletic ability to use the board.
The new board can range from 8 feet to as much as 14 feet depending on desired performance. It is fabricated using a variety of materials and processes including but not limited to composite materials (glass, Kevlar, carbon mixed with epoxy or polyester resins) layered over foam or honeycomb cores, rotational molded plastics, and injection molding.
This invention provides for a new design of recreational water boards that are significantly more stable than traditional boards in the class of standup paddle boards, windsurfing boards, and surf boards. Higher stability is achieved by shifting the primary buoyancy of the board to the rail hulls located on each side of the board deck creating a tunnel-hull effect. This provides a unique ability to make the board more stable for the average or beginner rider. Traditional stand on recreational water boards (standup paddle boards, wind surf boards, and surf boards) have all utilized a basic mono hull design with the main difference being the thickness, length, and curvature of the outer profile to achieve the desired buoyancy and performance level. When standing on said board, the feet are generally positioned outside the effective center of buoyancy (lift), which generally renders the board unstable for the beginner or average rider. The majority of buoyancy of our design is positioned outside of the rider's feet or center of mass, thus providing increased stability. This new design is intended to be a multipurpose platform allowing the rider to use as a standup paddle board, windsurf board, and surf board. In addition because the design is very stable it can be configured with a removable seat to allow the rider to paddle while seated. The fifth option provided by our new design allows the rider to attach a pre-configured seat with external outriggers and an anchor point/control system to facilitate the use of common kite board sailing gear to power the multipurpose recreational water board. The increased stability provided by the tunnel hull effect also eliminates the need for a fixed rudder or fin to generate directional stability. This allows the watercraft to track in very shallow waters such as rivers.
The current invention provides a new multipurpose recreational water board that is significantly more stable than traditional boards in the class of standup paddle boards, windsurfing boards, and surf boards. The overall design is shown in
How Increased Stability is Achieved:
The increased stability is achieved by shifting the primary buoyancy of the board to the outer sides creating a tunnel-hull effect. A cross-sectional comparison of our new design to a standard water board design is shown in
This new configuration eliminates the need for a rudder or fin, provides for improved directional stability while paddling and. This enables the water board to be used in extremely shallow water that would limit traditional paddleboards due to fin/rudder depth and damage potential. The water flowing through the tunnel coupled with the pressure boundary along the bottom of the rail hull keel enables this improved directional stability.
How Multipurpose Use is Achieved:
Our new design is intended for multipurpose use. In its basic configuration as shown in
The new design is also constructed with a variety of general attachment points as shown in
The new design can be configured with external floatation as shown in
The new design can be configured with removable seats. The seat can also be multifunctional for use as a cooler, live bait well, fish well, dry storage compartment, solar and conventional battery and control electronics compartment for alternate propulsion systems. Some of these options are shown in
The new design can be configured with sit-down kit board sail and control system. It will also incorporate steerable rudders for added control. This multipurpose option is shown in
