Rotating Guide-On Post With Steps for High Boat Trailer Boarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Access to the swim platform of larger boats on trailers has become more difficult due to increased height, making boarding more challenging.
Innovation Solution
A guide-on post with a hingedly coupled arm and integrated steps that can rotate between guiding and boarding positions, allowing the steps to extend outside the trailer perimeter for easier boarding and indicating the trailer's location when submerged.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the boat size is increased to accommodate more passengers and create a larger wake, then the swimming platform area and wake size are improved, but the height of the swim platform increases making boarding more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The guide-on post with integrated steps serves as an intermediary structure between the ground and the elevated swim platform. It provides a temporary, extendable staircase that bridges the height gap created by larger boat designs, allowing safe boarding without modifying the boat itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide-on post features a movable arm that can rotate between a guiding position (vertical) and a boarding position (angled), and steps that can extend and retract. This dynamic configuration allows the structure to adapt to different boat sizes and boarding needs while maintaining ease of use.
2Ease of operation
If the guide-on post arm is extended to provide boarding access to higher swim platforms, then boarding ease is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide-on post is divided into distinct functional segments: a base for attachment, a rotatable arm for positioning, and extendable/retractable steps for boarding. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, simplifying the overall design and maintenance while providing complex functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A guide-on post with a base, an arm, and at least one step. The base is attached to a boat trailer. The arm is hingedly coupled to the base and has an outer side that faces away from the boat trailer. The arm is configured to rotate between a guiding position and a boarding position. When the arm is in the guiding position, the arm is in a substantially vertical upward direction, and when the arm is in the boarding position, the arm is rotated between 5 degrees and 180 degrees from the guiding position. The at least one step is coupled to the arm and is moveable between a stored position and an extended position. When in the stored position, the step is positioned within a perimeter of the boat trailer. When in the extended position, the step extends away from the outer side of the arm.