Pneumatic Boat Lift with Boat-Carrying and Boat-Guiding Air Tanks

Abstract

A pontoon boat lift features tanks adjacent opposite sides thereof with upper walls slopes upwardly in a laterally outward direction. In lowered positions of the tanks, top ends of the sloped walls remain above water for visual and physical guidance of the pontoon boat into a position placing pontoons thereof between the outwardly sloped walls and over submerged portions of the lowered tanks, thereby allowing subsequent seating of the pontoons on said sloped walls during raising of the air tanks to lift the pontoons from the water. Buoyancy control for raising and lowering of the tank is effected by controlling air and water content thereof. The tanks are arranged to trap sufficient air therein to keep the lift buoyant to prevent sinking without using legs to support the boat lift on the sea, lake or river bed. The lift is adjustable in width and length for boats of varying size.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a lift for raising a pontoon boat out of a body of water, and more particularly to such a lift that employs floating air tanks on which the boat is directly supported when the lift is raised.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In the field of watercraft, it is sometimes desirable to store a watercraft in an elevated position over a body of water, for example to avoid the hassle of repeatedly launching a boat into the body from shore while also avoiding complications that can arise from keeping the boat in the water when out of use. Accordingly, several boat lift designs have been previously proposed.[0003]Many prior art boat lifts are mechanical in design, for example employing a bulky structure having a base frame that carries a movable section for lifting the boat, for example through operation of a winch. Other boat lifts employ buoyancy based designs, where the lifting action is instead provided by pontoons or inflatable ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is for a device that can lower a boat into a body of water by releasing air from the tanks of the boat and increasing their buoyancy. This decreases the buoancy of the boat and allows it to move independently from the tanks. The device also includes a stop device to prevent the boat from moving too far when it is in the lowered position. Overall, the device helps to safely and easily lower a boat into water.

Problems solved by technology

However, the forgoing floating lift designs have been developed for monohull (single-hulled) watercraft, and accordingly are not configured for lifting pontoon boats, which feature a platform spanning a distance between two pontoons adjacent opposite sides of the boat.

Images