AU2009203058A1 - A watercraft fin system - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA FB RICE & CO Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys Patents Act 1990 AUSSIE ASSETS PTY LIMITED COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: A watercraft fin system The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to us:- 2 "A watercraft fin system" Cross-Reference to Related Applications The present application claims priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No 2005905882 filed on 24 October 2005, the contents of which are 5 incorporated herein by reference. The present invention also relates to Australian Patent Application no. 2006308493, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Field of the Invention 10 This invention relates, generally, to a fin system and, more particularly, to a fin system component and to a fin system. Background to the Invention To date, as far as the Applicant is aware, watercraft, such as surfboards, have 15 their fins attached by a fin root being received within a socket formed in a body of the watercraft. This complicates construction of the body of the watercraft since the socket defining formations need to be taken into account in the fabrication of the body. In addition, due to the formation of the sockets in the body, the strength of the body is 20 reduced around those sockets and damage to the watercraft often occurs around these socket defining formations as do fractures. Still further, these socket defining formations restrict the angle at which a fin can project from the body. To angle the fins, it is therefore necessary to angle the socket defining formations correspondingly. This further complicates fabrication of the 25 body of the watercraft. Furthermore, a fibreglass covering is used to cover the body of the watercraft. This fibreglass covering is applied such that it covers each fin in order to secure conventional fins to the watercraft. This significantly complicates construction of the watercraft. In particular, the process of applying fibreglass to the fins adds at least one 30 hour to the time required to manufacture the watercraft. Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a fin system for a watercraft, the fin system including 35 a fin system component comprising a carrier defining a substantially planar mounting surface adapted to mountsolely adhesively to an external surface of the 3 watercraft; and a mounting formation associated with the carrier for mounting at least a portion of a fin; and a fin carried by the carrier of the component. "Adhesive mounting" is to be understood to include attachment by bonding and 5 the use of resins. The mounting formation may be an elongate formation extending substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the watercraft. In an embodiment, the component may include a plurality of receiving formations arranged on the mounting formation for receiving locking elements to lock a fin relative to the mounting formation. The 10 receiving formations may be arranged on the mounting formation for locking the fin at one of a plurality of various positions along the length of the mounting formation. The carrier may be a housing having a shaped, ie. a scalloped, leading edge to minimise hydrodynamic resistance and cavitation. Housings of varying sizes, lengths and shapes may be provided so as to accommodate the required size of fin for the 15 watercraft in question. The shape of the mounting surface may also vary to accommodate the amount of adhesive required to attach the housing to the watercraft. In one embodiment, the mounting formation may be in the form of a shaped channel extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the watercraft. The fin to be received in the channel may have a correspondingly shaped root portion. More 20 particularly, an inner region of the channel may be wider than an opening of the channel with a fin root of the fin being correspondingly shaped to be held captive in the channel and to inhibit withdrawal of the fin in a direction normal to a longitudinal axis of the channel. In another embodiment, the carrier may be a substantially planar member and 25 the mounting formation may be a flat plate standing proud of the planar member, the plate being dimensioned to be received in a slot in a fin root of the fin. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a fin system component for a watercraft, the component including: a carrier defining a substantially planar mounting surface adapted to mount 30 solely adhesively to an external surface of the watercraft; and a mounting formation associated with the carrier for mounting at least a portion of a fin. According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a fin for a fin system, the fin including: 35 a fin body; and 4 a fin root from which the fin body extends, the fin root having an enlarged foot component to be received in a correspondingly shaped formation of a carrier of a fin system component as described above. The fin may extend orthogonally from the fin root. Instead, to accommodate a 5 variety of shapes of lower surfaces of watercraft, the fin body may project at a predetermined angle relative to the fin root, the selected angle being governed by the shape of a lower surface of the watercraft. Still further, the fin body may be longer than the carrier in which it is received (when viewed in a longitudinal direction) so that a rear part of the fin body is 10 unsupported relative to the carrier to allow flexing of the rear part of the fin. The fin root may be formed integrally with the fin body as a one piece unit. The invention extends also to a watercraft including at least one fin system as described above with reference to the first aspect of the invention or the fourth aspect 15 of the invention. Brief Description of the Drawings Embodiments of the invention are now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: 20 Figure 1 shows a three dimensional view of a watercraft, including a plurality of fin systems, each in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows a side view of a fin system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 shows a plan view of the fin system; 25 Figure 4 shows a bottom view of the fin system; Figure 5 shows an end view of the fin system; Figure 6 shows an end view of a variation of the fin system; Figure 7 shows a side view of a fin system, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; 30 Figure 8 shows a plan view of the fin system of Figure 7; Figure 9 shows an end view of a variation of the attachment of a fin to the housing of the fin system. Detailed Description of Exemplary Embodiments 35 In Figure 1 of the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally designates a water craft, in the form of a surfboard, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

5 For ease of reference, the embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to its application to a surfboard. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the invention is readily applicable to other types of watercrafts such as, for example, paddle skis, water skis, body boards or powered watercraft. 5 The surfboard 10 shows three fin systems 12, each in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Each fin system 12 comprises a fin system component 14. The fin system component or, simply, the component, 14, which is also in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, comprises a carrier in the form of a housing 16. A fin 18 is removably received in the housing 16. 10 The housing 16 defines a mounting formation in the form of a longitudinally extending, outwardly opening channel 20. The channel 20 receives a fin root 22 of the fin 18 therein. The fin root 22 has a bulbous foot 24 received in a wider part of the channel 26 for holding the fin 18 in position relative to the housing 16 and for inhibiting withdrawal of the fin 18 upwardly out of the housing 16. 15 As illustrated more clearly in Figure 4 of the drawings, the housing 16 includes a substantially planar mounting surface 28. The mounting surface 28 mounts the housing to an external, lower surface of the surfboard 10. Ideally, the mounting surface 28 is adhesively secured to the surface 30 of the surfboard 10 via a high strength adhesive. The footprint, i.e. the surface area, of the mounting surface 28 is governed 20 by the adhesive strength required to retain the fin system 12 on the surfboard 10. The fin system 12 includes a locking arrangement 32 (Figure 6) for locking the fin 18 in position relative to the housing 16. The locking arrangement 32 comprises a plurality of receiving formations, in the form of openings 34 (Figures 2 and 3), defined in the housing 16. As illustrated more clearly in Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings, these 25 openings 34 extend at an angle through the housing 16 opening into the channel 24. Grub screws 36 of the locking arrangement 32 are received in the openings 34. The grub screws 32 engage the foot 24 of the fin 18 for retaining the fin 18, releasably, in position in the housing 16. Another embodiment of the locking arrangement 32 is shown in Figure 9 of the 30 drawings. In this embodiment, the fin 18 has a socket 38 defined in its foot 24. The socket 38 is lined by a liner 40. A fastener such as an Allen-head screw 42 is received in the socket 38. A tip 42.1 of the screw 42 bears against a steel plate 44 in the channel 24 of the housing 16. This causes the foot 24 to rise into contact with a tapering wall 46 (Figure 5) of the channel 24 to retain the fin 18 in position relative to the housing 35 16.

6 Instead of the screw 42, the fastener could be a fastener of the type having a cam-like lever on its head for displacing a shank relative to the head to facilitate locking retention of the fin 18 relative the housing 40. As shown in Figure 2 of the drawings, a rear part 48 of the fin 18 is unsupported 5 by the housing 16. This configuration of fin system 12 is intended to be used by more experienced surfers who require fins 18 which have a rear part that is able to flex. As illustrated in Figure 6 of the drawings, and more particularly, as shown in dotted lines, a fin body 50 of the fin 18 is angled with respect to the fin root 52 so that it is not necessary to angle the channel 24 of the housing 16. With this arrangement, a 10 variety of differently angled fins 18 can be accommodated in the fin system 12 without the need for any special construction of the surfboard 30 itself. Referring now to Figures 7 and 8 of the drawings, a further embodiment of the fin system 12 is shown. With reference to the previous drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified. 15 In this embodiment, the housing 16 is substantially longer than the length of the fin 18. Thus, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 7 of the drawings, the fins 18 can be positioned at various different places relative to the housing 16 to cater for surfers of different skills. It will be appreciated that, by varying the position of the fin 18 relative to the surfboard 30, the balance of the surfboard can be altered. 20 In both embodiments, the leading end 54 of the housing 16 is scalloped to reduce hydrodynamic resistance and cavitation as the surfboard 10 passes through the water. It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations 25 and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims (16)

1. A fin system for a watercraft, the fin system including a fin system component comprising a carrier defining a substantially planar mounting surface adapted to mount solely adhesively to an external surface of the 5 watercraft; and a mounting formation associated with the carrier for mounting at least a portion of a fin; and a fin carried by the carrier of the component.

2. The system of claim I in which the mounting formation is an elongate formation 10 extending substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the watercraft.

3. The system of claim I or claim 2 which includes a plurality of receiving formations arranged on the mounting formation for receiving locking elements to lock a fin relative to the mounting formation. 15

4. The system of claim 3 in which the receiving formations are arranged on the mounting formation for locking the fin at one of a plurality of various positions along the length of the mounting formation. 20

5. The system of any one of the preceding claims in which the carrier is a housing having a shaped leading edge to minimise hydrodynamic resistance and cavitation.

6. The system of any one of the preceding claims in which the mounting formation is in the form of a shaped channel extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the 25 watercraft.

7. The system of claim 6 in which an inner region of the channel is wider than an opening of the channel to inhibit withdrawal of the fin in a direction normal to a longitudinal axis of the channel. 30

8. The system of claim 7 in which a socket is included in a foot of the fin, the socket being adapted to receive a fastener, a portion of which bears against a surface in the channel thereby retaining the fin in the carrier. 35

9. The system of claim 8 in which the socket is positioned in a front portion or a rear portion of the foot. 8

10. A fin system component for a watercraft, the component including: a carrier defining a substantially planar mounting surface adapted to mount solely adhesively to an external surface of the watercraft; and a mounting formation associated with the carrier for mounting at least a portion 5 of a fin.

11. A fin for a fin system, the fin including: a fin body; and a fin root from which the fin body extends, the fin root having an enlarged foot 10 component to be received in a correspondingly shaped formation of a carrier of a fin system component as claimed in claim 10.

12. The fin of claim 10 in which the fin extends orthogonally from the fin root. 15

13. The fin of claim 10 in which the fin body projects at a predetermined angle relative to the fin root, the selected angle being governed by the shape of a lower surface of a watercraft.

14. The fin of any one of claims 11 to 13 in which the fin body is longer than the 20 carrier in which it is received (when viewed in a longitudinal direction) so that a rear part of the fin body is unsupported relative to the carrier to allow flexing of the rear part of the fin.

15. A fin system as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying 25 drawings.

16. A watercraft including at least one fin system as claimed in any one of claims I to 9.