Pocket door for a boat

Abstract

A boat has an outside pocket door that opens to provide a passageway large enough for a person to pass. Of particular interest are sliding doors that utilize a traveler and a guide, each positioned on one of the door and the housing, having tolerances that severely restrict side to side movement of a distal edge of the door under normal operating conditions. The guide can advantageously comprise a track and rollers, and the traveler can comprises a foot disposed to travel between opposing ones of the rollers. In such embodiments the rollers can advantageously be mounted in spaced apart opposing pairs on a guide, using off-set centers to adjust the tolerances. Sliding doors can be operated in any suitable manner, manually or otherwise, and it is especially contemplated that sliding doors can be operated using a pneumatic ram.

1 . A boat having a transom that includes a first curved pocket door.  
   
   
       2 . The boat of  claim 1  further comprising a traveler that extends laterally beyond a trailing edge of the door, and a guide that receives and constrains side to side movement of a leading edge the door.  
   
   
       3 . The boat of  claim 1  further comprising a second pocket door that approximates the first pocket door.  
   
   
       4 . The boat of  claim 1  wherein the guide is not visible from the outside of the transom.  
   
   
       5 . A sliding door assembly comprising: 
 a housing having an opening large enough for a person to walk through;    a first sliding door that slides into and out from the opening; and    a traveler and a guide, each positioned on one of the door and the housing, the traveler and guide cooperating and having tolerances that restrict side to side movement of a distal edge of the door under normal operating conditions to no more than 5 cm.    
   
   
       6 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the traveler extends beyond an inside edge at the door by at least 5 cm.  
   
   
       7 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the traveler extends beyond an inside edge at the door by at least 20 cm.  
   
   
       8 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the traveler has a width of at least 2 cm.  
   
   
       9 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the traveler has a width of at least 4 cm.  
   
   
       10 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the tolerances restrict the side to side movement of the distal edge of the door under normal operating conditions to no more than 1 cm.  
   
   
       11 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the door comprises fiberglass.  
   
   
       12 . The assembly of  claim 5  further comprising first and second overlapping elongated detents disposed on a leading edge of the door  
   
   
       13 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the door has a weight, and the weight of the door is entirely supported by the traveler.  
   
   
       14 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the guide comprises a track and rollers and the traveler comprises a foot disposed to travel between opposing ones of the rollers.  
   
   
       15 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the guide comprises a roller that has an off-center axis.  
   
   
       16 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the guide comprises a plurality of opposing pairs of rollers.  
   
   
       17 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the guide comprises opposing pairs of rollers that are unevenly distributed along a length of the guide.  
   
   
       18 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the door has no substantial curvature.  
   
   
       19 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the door is curved with a radius of less than  10  meters.  
   
   
       20 . The assembly of  claim 5  further comprising a second sliding door that mates with the first sliding door.  
   
   
       21 . The assembly of  claim 5  further comprising a pneumatically operated ram that moves the first sliding door.  
   
   
       22 . The assembly of  claim 5  wherein the guide is not visible from outside the housing.  
   
   
       23 . A boat having an exterior portion that includes a pocket door that opens to provide a passageway large enough for a person to pass.  
   
   
       24 . The boat of  claim 23  wherein the pocket door comprises a housing and a sliding door, and movement of the sliding door is constrained by a traveler that extends laterally from the door.  
   
   
       25 . The boat of  claim 23  wherein the guide is not visible from outside the housing.  
   
   
       26 . The boat of  claim 23 , further comprising first and second pairs of travelers and guides, which cooperate to constrain side to side movement of a leading edge of the door to no more than 1 cm.