Claims
- 1. A personal watercraft comprising:
- a hull,
- a seat configured for seating the driver while the driver drives the watercraft;
- two floor boards, the two floor boards disposed on the respective sides of the seat and forming a support surface on which the driver rests his or her feet while driving the watercraft, the floor boards extending from the front of the seat to the rear of the seat and
- shock absorbing spring means for mounting the floor boards to the hull in a position wherein the floor boards are capable of limited motion in an up-and down direction relative to the hull and are spring biased in an upwardly direction whereby the floor boards act to substantially absorb waves and bumps of the water and act as shock absorber while the watercraft travels on water, the shock absorbing spring means include a base which is disposed substantially parallel with an upper base surface of the hull and is fixedly attached thereto, a plurality of shafts movably affixed to the base and fixedly attached to the floor boards and a plurality of coil springs, each coil spring being mounted on one shaft and biasing the floor board in an upwardly direction.
- 2. The personal watercraft of claim 1 where the base has a plurality of openings and where one of the shafts is mounted into each of the openings.
- 3. The personal watercraft of claim 2 where each shaft has a flange attached to its upper end, and where the flange of each shaft is fixedly attached to the underside of the floor board.
- 4. The personal watercraft of claim 3 where the bottom end of each shaft is attached to the base by a C-clamp and a washer.
- 5. The personal watercraft of claim 4 where the bottom end of each shaft has a groove into which the C-clamp is mounted.
- 6. The personal watercraft of claim 1 further comprising rubber mats disposed above the floorboard.
- 7. A personal watercraft comprising:
- a hull including a bottom member and a floor member which jointly define a closed air space for buoyancy;
- a seat configured for seating the occupant while the occupant drives the watercraft;
- two floor boards, the two floor boards disposed on the respective sides of the seat and forming a support surface on which the occupant rests his or her feet while driving the watercraft, and
- means for mounting the floor boards above the floor member of the hull in a substantially parallel relationship therewith and for spring biasing the floor board in an upwardly direction whereby while the watercraft travels on water waves and bumps are substantially absorbed by said means, the means for mounting and spring biasing comprise a plurality of shafts fixedly attached to the floor boards and a plurality of coil springs, each coil spring being located on one of the shafts, the coil springs exerting force between the underside of the floor boards and the floor member of the hull.
- 8. The personal watercraft of claim 7 further comprising a base member of substantial thickness which is disposed substantially parallel with the floor member of the hull and is fixedly attached thereto, the base member having a plurality of openings, one shaft being disposed in each of the openings.
- 9. In a personal watercraft having a hull, an upper base surface, a motor, a jet pump driven by the motor, a seat configured for seating the occupant while the occupant drives the watercraft, and two floor boards on which the feet of the occupant are placed while the occupant drives the watercraft, the improvement comprising:
- shock absorbing spring means for mounting the floor boards to the hull in a position wherein the floor boards are capable of limited motion in an up-and down direction relative to the hull and are spring biased in an upwardly direction whereby the floor boards act to substantially absorb waves and bumps while the watercraft travels on water, the shock absorbing spring means including a base which is disposed substantially parallel with the upper base surface of the hull and is fixedly attached thereto, a plurality of shafts movably affixed to the base and fixedly attached to the floor boards and a plurality of coil springs, each coil spring being mounted concentrically on the shaft and biasing the floor boards in an upwardly direction.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/065,619, filed May 21, 1993, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
77589 |
Apr 1986 |
JPX |
144284 |
Jun 1990 |
JPX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
65619 |
May 1993 |
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