Boat trailers for all-terrain vehicles

• US 5,230,526 A
• Filed: 06/01/1992
• Issued: 07/27/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rene Jolivet
• Original Assignee: Rene Jolivet
• Inventors: Jolivet, Rene
• Primary Examiner(s): Focarino, Margaret A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Johnson, Victor E.
• Application Number:
  US07/890,728
• Time in Patent Office: 421 Days
• Field of Search: 280/414.1, 280/414.2, 280/491.1, 280/491.3
• US Class Current: 280/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60P 3/1033 on a loading frame, e.g. the vehicle being a trailer B60P3/1008 takes precedence

Abstract

This trailer has a hitch and a portable wheel assembly. The hitch is a straight, unyielding arm. One end of the arm is to be fastened to the bottom and along the keel and near the front end of the boat. The arm at its other end is to be coupled to an all-terrain vehicle. The separate wheel assembly has a rectangular base with short opposite lateral sides and opposite longitudinal sides. Each of the opposite lateral sides of the base has a short upward extension to confine a portion of the sides of the boat. A wheel is mounted on each of the lateral sides of the base about a stub axle fixed to the base. Straps attach the lateral sides of the base to hold the boat against the base.

Claims

1. A two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle,

said boat having a front and a rear end, sides, a bottom, and extending along the bottom halfway between and parallel to said sides, a longitudinal axis,

said two-component trailer having a hitch and a portable removably mounted separate wheel assembly to be strap-mounted near the rear end of the boat for receiving the bottom of said boat near said rear end,

said hitch being a straight, unyielding iron angle arm member, said arm member having one end and an opposite end,

said one end of said arm member to be fastened to the bottom and along the longitudinal axis of the bottom and near the front end of the boat,

said opposite end of said arm member being provided with means for coupling to an all-terrain vehicle,

in a region adjacent to a junction of said bottom and said front end of said boat, said straight arm member, between said one end and said opposite end of said arm member, being sectioned into a first arm portion including said one end and a second arm portion including said opposite end,

said first arm portion being bridged to said second arm portion with a hinge, said hinge having a pair of flat plates turning about a pivot,

one of said flat plates of said hinge being fixed to said first arm portion as to define with said first arm portion a triangular cross-section, and the other of said flat plates of said hinge being fixed to said second arm portion as to define with said second arm portion a triangular cross-section,

so that said second arm portion may be pivoted in a first position to rest against said front end of said boat and be pivoted in a second position to be in a same plane as said first arm portion,

said second arm portion being provided with means to releasably lock said second arm member into said second position to act as said straight arm,

said separate wheel assembly comprising:

a base for receiving the bottom near said rear end of said boat,

said base having opposite lateral sides and opposite longitudinal sides,

said base having said opposite lateral sides shorter than said opposite longitudinal sides,

each of said opposite lateral sides of said base having an upward extension to confine therebetween at least a portion of the sides of the boat near the rear end of the boat,

on each of the lateral sides of said base, a stub axle mounted on said base,

on each of said stub axles, a wheel rotatably mounted about said stub axle,

for each of said wheels, a side and an upper auxiliary retaining supporting bracket cooperating with said stub axle in order to maintain said stub axle in a given position,

said wheels being of a dimension sufficient to ride over tree branches,

detachably attaching strap means to bridge one of said lateral sides of said base to the other of said lateral sides of said base and thereby to sandwich said boat between said strap means and said base to hold said boat on said base solely with said strap means.

3. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said second arm portion including said opposite end is provided, about mid point between said opposite end and said hinge, with a stub angle iron larger than said second arm portion and fixed thereto as to define between said stub angle iron and said second arm portion a space for receiving therein and snugly fitting a locking angle iron,

a locking angle iron having a one end and another end,

said locking angle iron being layable over a portion of said first and said second arm portions and terminating at said one end into said space and at said another end being provided with means for releasably holding said locking angle iron to said first arm portion, and thereby said locking angle iron acting as said means to releasably lock said second arm member into said second position, to act as said straight arm.

4. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 3, wherein said means for releasably holding said locking angle iron to said first arm portion is a lock bolt and said first arm portion and said locking angle iron are provided with bores for receiving said lock bolt.

6. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said sides of said boat have a given height and each of said upward extensions of said base are of a height less than half that of said height of said sides of said boat.

7. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said sides of said boat at said rear end are inclined and each of said upward extension of said opposite lateral sides of said base are each inclined as said sides of said boat near said rear end, said wheel being a rubber-tire wheel.

8. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said upward extension is an angle iron, and said base is a steel plate.

9. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said wheel is a rubber-tire wheel.

10. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said longitudinal axis of the bottom of said boat is a keel, said upward extension is an angle iron, and said base is a steel plate and said plate is shaped as said bottom of said boat near said rear end.

11. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said upward extension of each of said lateral sides is an angle iron, said base is a steel plate and said steel plate is shaped as said bottom of said boat near said rear end,

a wheel frame is provided for each of said wheel,

having a bracket connected to said wheel frame,

and each of said side an upper auxiliary retaining supporting

brackets of each of said wheels having respectively a one end and an other end,

said side auxiliary retaining supporting brackets of each of said wheels are each respectively hooked at said one end, in said base, and at said other end to said wheel bracket,

and said upper auxiliary retaining supporting brackets are secured at said one end to their respective said angle iron defining said upward extension of each of said lateral sides and at said other end to their respective wheel frame.

12. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 11, wherein said all-terrain vehicle is a four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle.

13. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 3, wherein said one end of said locking angle iron is tapered to ease entering into said space between said stub angle iron and said second arm portion.

14. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said one of said flat plates of said hinge being fixed to said first arm portion defines, in the same plane as said one of said flat plates, a pair of eyes outwardly projecting from said one of said flat plates, away from said first arm portion, said pair of eyes defining inner eye openings of said hinge, said other of said flat plates of said hinge being fixed to said second arm portion including said opposite end as to define with said second arm portion a triangular cross-section, defines, in the same plane as said other of said flat plates, a pair of eyes outwardly projecting away from said triangular cross-section and away from said opposite end of said second arm and in the same plane as said other of said flat plates, said pair of eyes, defining outer eye openings of said hinge, whereby said pair of outer eye openings sandwich between said inner eye openings, said eye openings having rotatably mounted therein said pivot, said hinge being such that the plates may be placed between the pivot in a same plane.

5. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 5, wherein said longitudinal axis of the bottom of said boat is a keel.

2. The two-component trailer to pull a boat with an all-terrain vehicle as defined in claim 5, wherein said pivot of said hinge is provided with a spring loaded lock-pin whereby said second arm portion may be easily connected and disconnected.