Recreational vehicles such as boats and travel trailers are typically stored outdoors when not in use. Often, a cover is placed over the entire vehicle in order to protect it from elements of the weather such as rain, snow, sleet, ultraviolet rays, heat from direct sunlight, as well as dirt and dust from the outside air. In this regard, a simple cover is quite effective and yet an inexpensive alternative to indoor storage. In the prior art, the covers can comprise canvas, plastic and other generally non-porous materials. Obviously, a non-porous cover functions very well for its intended purpose. Neither dirt nor rain can penetrate the non-porous material and as a result the recreational vehicle is fairly well protected when not in use.
One problem with using a porous or non porous cover to protect a vehicle is moisture and mildew resulting from condensation and other sources. In a completely non porous cover, the condensation, in the form of moisture, is trapped inside the cover where it can penetrate every unsealed surface of the covered vehicle and every electrical, mechanical and fabric component in the vehicle. In a very real sense, the trapped moisture is more damaging than the vehicle being left uncovered. An uncovered vehicle can dry out, but a covered vehicle with moisture trapped therewithin does not dry out and the vehicle is constantly exposed to the moisture which over a shortened period of time can cause a significant amount of damage.
The newer, breathable prior art materials allow some of the trapped moisture to escape, but not completely. Even with the breathable materials, moisture remains trapped inside the cover for a longer period of time than it would if the cover were removed and the vehicle allowed to air dry. It is to be noted that the moisture problem is not necessarily exclusive to the outdoors. Indeed, indoor storage, for example, where the air is not conditioned or otherwise dry, can experience high humidity. In such an environment, the moist air can damage a covered object or vehicle by becoming trapped under the cover.
In a commonly owned U.S. Patent issued to Gridley (U.S. Pat. No. 6,938,631, incorporated by this reference for all that it discloses) on Sep. 6, 2005, the applicant disclosed a new apparatus for venting a cover covering a vehicle. Such ventilation apparatus was configured so that so that air can freely pass in and out of the space inside of the cover.
While the applicant's prior art ventilation apparatus works well for its intended purposes, novel improvements to the apparatus have been developed and are disclosed herein.
To prevent water from pooling up on top of a boat cover (for example), the cover is typically supported by a support structure such as a pole. Prior devices used to support boat covers require both hands to adjust the height of the pole by holding the pole with one hand and turning a thumb screw with the other. Such a prior art configurations are awkward, heavier than necessary and more complex to use than need be.
What is needed is a new light weight support structure that can be easily adjusted to the desired height and secured in place using one hand.
Another needed improvement for a cover support structure is remote operation. Crawling under a cover and manually extending an adjustable support structure can be quite annoying, especially at the end of a long day. What is needed is an adjustable support structure that can be extended from a remote location (remote from the support structure—e.g. the side of a boat away from a support pole).
Another needed improvement concerns electronic features. Covers can fail, the climate changes, and the location of the cover may change. As a result, the environment under a cover continually changes for many reasons. Some environmental conditions may be undesirable and need to be “corrected.” What is needed is a cover vent and/or support structure device that can monitor the cover and its environment to detect a predefined condition and perform a predefined task upon detection. Additional electronic features would include services such as tamper detection and theft detection.
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USPTO Backgrounds