Zodiac Milpro International

Marc Cassanas

Guillaume Lacoste

Lionel Boudeau

Bruno Marion

Erle Dumontier

Yann Derlet

Erlé Dumontier

Disclosed is a boat including a flexible bottom bordered radially towards the outside by a wall which includes an inflatable and flexible front wall, an inflatable and flexible lateral wall, and a rear wall. At least one part of at least one of the lateral wall and of the front wall is constituted by a first inflatable element configured as a panel having two parallel planar faces, a second inflatable element of which the cross section is in the form of a D with a planar portion, and a flexible assembly device, the second element being situated radially towards the outside of the boat with respect to the first element, the assembly device maintaining the planar portion of the second element in contact with one of the planar faces of the first element.

Inflatable boat with D-shaped wall

The device includes a sling with four flexible support strands, including a pair of rear strands, each of which is attached by a bottom end to one of two lifting points provided in the lateral end portions of the transom stern, and a top end of which is linked to at least one attachment member, for engaging with a hook suspended beneath a helicopter, and two strands, each forming a loop capable of passing around the outer lower contours of the two lateral floats and beneath the keel of the boat, and of which each of the two ends is attached to the attachment member, one of the two looped strands, referred to as the 'middle' strand, surrounding the boat at the central portion of the latter, and the other looped strand, referred to as the 'front' strand, surrounding the boat at the bow of the boat.

Device for transporting an inflatable boat in operational configuration in a sling beneath a helicopter, and assembly comprising same

Disclosed is a vessel with two watertight flaps attached in a tensioned state on the two sides of the longitudinal keel, each being under one of the two rear side portions of the V-shaped hull, the outer side edge of each flap being connected under the shell covering the bottom compartment on the same side, and the bottom side edge being connected to the bottom along a line which is angled from the rear to the front and angled toward the lower compartment, with a flap width tapering from the tensioned, free rear edge between the ends at the transom, toward a front portion connected to the bottom and/or to the shell at the connection between the upper and lower compartments, defining, with the latter and the bottom, a channel converging from front to rear and angled toward the rear end of the edge of the V-shaped craft hull.

Inflatable craft having V-shaped hull and flaps

A craft includes a rigid hull () that consists of a V-shaped bottom () and a bridge () on which a load can rest. The hull includes plating consisting of compartmentalized pneumatic floats (), the rear compartments () of which are combined with an inflation and deflation system so as to vary the buoyancy of the craft. The craft also includes a submergible hull (), the central cavity () of which is formed between the bottom () and the bridge () and is open at the rear so as to be automatically filled or emptied, the central cavity () containing at least one bag () that is combined with an inflation and deflation system enabling the buoyancy to be varied and consequently the level of immersion of the stern () to be changed as needed.

Growing community of inventors

Figueres, Spain

Marc Cassanas