Marine vessels and apparatuses for mounting marine drives on marine vessels

[0001] The present disclosure relates to marine vessels and apparatuses for mounting marine drives to marine vessels.

[0002] The following U.S. Patents and Publications are incorporated herein by reference.

[0003] U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,977,923 and 3,136,287 disclose inboard-outboard mounting arrangements for marine drives.

[0004] U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0272321 discloses a boat hull with an outboard drive.

[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 7,294,031 discloses a marine vessel and drive combination that has upper and lower mounting plates that mount a marine propulsion device to a hull at an opening with a sealing grommet.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 8,011,983 discloses a marine drive that has a break-away mount mounting first and second sections of the drive and breaking-away in response to a given underwater impact against the second section to protect the first section and the vessel.

[0007] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0008] In certain examples, apparatuses are for mounting a marine drive to a hull of a marine vessel. An outer clamping plate faces an outside surface of the hull and an inner clamping plate faces an opposing inside surface of the hull. A marine drive housing extends through the hull. The marine drive housing is held in place with respect to the hull by at least one vibration dampening sealing member that is disposed between the inner and outer clamping plates. A first connector extends through the hull and clamps the outer clamping plate to the outside surface of the hull. A second connector extends through the hull and clamps the inner clamping plate to the outer clamping plate. The inner and outer clamping plates are held at a fixed distance from each other so that a consistent compression force is applied to the vibration dampening sealing member.

[0015] In the present description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes only and are intended to be broadly construed. The different systems and methods described herein may be used alone or in combination with other systems and methods. Various equivalents, alternatives, and modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

[0016] FIG. 1 depicts a hull 10 located at a transom 12 of a marine vessel 14. A marine drive 15 is mounted to the transom 12 and includes a driveshaft housing 16 containing among other things a conventional driveshaft that is connected to an engine located in the marine vessel 14. Rotation of the driveshaft causes rotation of a propeller 18 via a transmission contained within the marine drive 15, as is common in the art. The marine drive 15 extends through an opening 29 in the hull 10 and is connected to the hull 10 by a mounting apparatus 22, which is a subject of the present disclosure and will be described further herein below with reference to FIGS. 2-5. For the purposes of discussion, a particular marine vessel and marine drive are shown in the figures; however it should be recognized that the present disclosure is not limited to this particular marine vessel and marine drive. That is, the concepts of the present disclosure can be applied to different marine vessels and marine drives then that shown.

[0017] As shown in FIGS. 2-5, the mounting apparatus 22 includes an outer clamping plate 24 that faces an outside surface 25 of the hull 10 and an inner clamping plate 28 that faces an opposing, inside surface 30 of the hull 10. A gimbal housing 17 of the marine drive 15 is located in the opening 29 in the hull 10 and is held in place with respect to the hull 10 by a pair of vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34. The vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 are located on opposite sides, respectively, of the gimbal housing 17 and are sandwiched between the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24. A plurality of first connectors 36 clamp the outer clamping plate 24 to the outside surface 25 of the hull 10. A plurality of second connectors 38 clamp the inner clamping plate 28 to the outer clamping plate 24. The type of connectors 36, 38 can vary from that which is shown. In this example, the plurality of first connectors 36 includes studs that clamp the outer clamping plate 24 against the outside surface 25 of the hull 10 when nuts 27 are screwed onto the ends of the studs. In this example, the plurality of second connectors 38 includes screws that force the inner clamping plate 28 toward the outer clamping plate 24 when the screws are screwed into the outer clamping plate 24. A plurality of spacers 48 are disposed on the plurality of second connectors 38 between the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24. Each spacer 48 has a length that is equal to a fixed distance at which the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24 are spaced from each other so that a consistent, predictable compression force is applied to the pair of vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 by the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24 when the first and second connectors 36, 38 are securely tightened. When the first and second connectors 36, 38 are securely tightened, the vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 form a water-tight seal around an entirety of the housing 17, thus preventing passage of water through the opening 29 and also creating vibration isolation between the marine drive 15 and hull 10. The inner clamping plate 28 is held at a distance D from the inside surface 30 of the hull 10 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) by the spacers 48 to ensure clearance between the inner surface 30 and the clamping plate 28, so that the vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 have a predictable amount of compression, and the inside surface 30 which can often be a rough and loosely controlled surface, does not affect this function.

[0018] In this example, the gimbal housing 17 has an outer perimeteral flange 50 that is disposed between the pair of vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34. The portion of the gimbal housing 17 having the outer perimeteral flange 50 can vary from that which is shown. The outer clamping plate 24 has an inner perimeteral surface 52 that faces the outside surface 25 of the hull 10 and a perimeteral rim 54 that extends transversely from the inner perimeteral surface 52 through the opening 19 in the hull 10. A sealing member 53 forms a seal between the outer clamping plate 24 and the outside surface 25 of the hull 10. The sealing member 53 extends around the gimbal housing 17 between the outer clamping plate 24 and the outside surface 25 of the hull 10. In this example, the sealing member 53 is an O-ring that provides a watertight seal between the outer clamping plate 24 and the hull 10. The type of seal can vary from that which is shown. The perimeteral rim 54 has a perimeteral edge 58 that abuts the inner clamping plate 28. The perimeteral rim 54 has a length that is equal to the above-mentioned fixed distance between the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24. The perimeteral rim 54 thus has a length that is equal to the length of the plurality of spacers 48. The perimeteral rim 54 has an outer surface 60 that faces a radially inwardly facing perimeteral surface 62 of the hull 10, which defines the extent of the opening 19.

[0019] The marine drive 15 extends through the opening 19 in the hull 10 and the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24 extend around an entire perimeter of the opening 19 on opposite sides of the opening 19, respectively. The vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 also extend around the entire perimeter of the opening 19. In this example, the opening 19 is oval-shaped and the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24 are oval-shaped. The shape of the opening 19 and plates 28, 24 can vary from that which is shown. The plurality of first connectors 36 and the plurality of second connectors 38 both extend through the hull 10. In use, vibrations on the marine drive 15 are transferred first through the vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 and then to the inner and outer clamping plates 28, 24 and then to the hull 10.

[0020] The vibration dampening sealing members 32, 34 provide attachment of the marine drive 15 to the hull 10, as well as isolate the hull 10 from vibrations derived from the marine drive 15. Through experimentation, this has been found to provide excellent noise/vibration/harshness characteristics compared to the prior art. This also allows for easier installation of marine drives 15, particularly sterndrives as compared to the more complicated arrangements in the prior art.

[0021] Through research and experimentation, the present inventors have also realized that the hull section where a pod or sterndrive typically are attached to a marine vessel is often a fiberglass construction. The outside surface of the hull often is well-controlled, flat and smooth. The thickness is somewhat controlled, but not to a precision required for predicted sealing joints. The inside surface also often is not well-controlled. The thickness of the hull section can vary, which can cause clearance, assembly, and specifically, hull sealing issues in designs utilizing rubber sealing/isolating elements. In the examples provided herein above, the outer clamping plate is clamped directly onto the hull with fasteners designed to accommodate the noted anticipated thickness variation. The second set of fasteners are more precisely designed with bushings that are clamped to the outer clamping plate to thereby establish a more controlled distance between the inner and outer members. This eliminates the usage of the inside surface of the hull for establishing position of the inner clamping or structural member, thus providing an easier installation. Consistency of sealing and isolation capability is also provided. The dual clamping feature provides a hull thickness variation elimination feature, which is advantageous and allows design of a controlled sealing or isolating member into a variable thickness hull, without supplying any additional bolt or glass-in interface members to the marine vessel manufacturer. The examples thus provide highly simplified sealing and/or isolating by eliminating boat-builder tolerance from the analysis.