1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for exhausting fumes of a power motor boat, and more particularly concerns an apparatus and method for directing exhaust fumes of a power motor boat away from a person wake surfing behind the power motor boat to reduce exposure of the person to the exhaust fumes.
2. Description of Related Art
Wake surfing behind power boats has become a popular sport, and in response, manufacturers of such power boats used for wake surfing have created new configurations of boats which enhance the size of the waves produced behind and to the port and starboard sides of the power boats to improve the sport and the opportunities for more spectacular surfing on lakes and rivers. As the sport has become more popular, certain limitations on existing boats used for the purpose have been identified. One such limitation is that most boats used for the purpose have exhaust systems which direct the exhaust out of the back of the boat either above or below the water line, thus causing the wake surfer behind the boat and to either the port or starboard side to be exposed to exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide contained in the exhaust, thus diminishing the enjoyment and safety of the sport.
Ambient carbon monoxide concentrations as high as 27,000 parts per million (ppm) have been measured at the stern of power boats involved in boating fatalities attributed to carbon monoxide. The World Health Organization has recommended that the maximum exposure to carbon monoxide that a person should receive during a 15 minute interval is 87 ppm. The U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard have recently documented 17 fatalities and 37 non-fatal carbon monoxide poisonings resulting from exposure to engine exhaust from ski boats and cabin cruisers, most of which occurred while on or near a swim platform or seated in the stern of the boat. However, carbon monoxide blood concentrations of drowning victims are rarely measured, so that it is possible that the number of drownings and non-fatal incidents due to carbon monoxide poisonings from power boat exhaust may be much higher. The U.S. Coast Guard consequently issued a safety alert in 2001 advising boaters not to “engage in the dangerous and illegal practice of teak surfing,” in which a person holds on to a swim platform while a wake forms, and then trails behind the boat while holding on to the swim step.
Although power boat exhaust valves are known that can be used to direct engine exhaust through the transom or stern of a boat, these are typically designed to prevent exhaust fumes from entering the deck area of a power boat, or for purposes of sound reduction, and none of these systems reduce the carbon monoxide exhausted behind the boat and to either the port or starboard side of a power boat where a person would wake surf. It would therefore be desirable to provide an apparatus for substantially reducing the presence of exhaust fumes behind and/or to one side of a power boat, and for substantially reducing the danger to a person behind and to one side of the power boat, such as a wake surfer trailing behind such a power boat, from exposure to exhaust fumes, and particularly carbon monoxide, from such a power boat. The present invention meets these and other needs.