Many watercraft vessels such as power boats, sailboats and the like, often cannot be directly tied up against an intended dock because the draft of the vessel is too great and the sea floor immediately adjacent to the dock is too shallow. Likewise, rudders can cause similar problems in shallow areas immediately adjacent to the dock. Rudders extending outward from vessels can be damaged if the rudder hits against the dock during normal wave action. Also it is a known problem that the sides of vessels secured directly next to a dock tend to bounce against the dock and can potentially cause possible damage to either or both the vessel and the dock.
Past attempts to alleviate these problems have often been inadequate. For example, docks that are equipped with bumpers and fenders such as rubber strips and tires may eliminate some of the damage that can occur to a docked vessel. However, the bumpers and fenders on the dock can still chafe the sides of the vessels causing marks. Rigid mooring bars such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,078 to Haverly, can secure a vessel a fixed distance from the dock. However, the vessel is then free to continuously bounce around with the normal wave action. The negatives of the Haverly device become evident when wave action becomes more extreme allowing the vessel to freely swing to crash up and down at the end of the mooring bar.
Thus, the need exists for a device to secure a vessel at a fixed distance from a dock while allowing the vessel to generally rise and fall with the wave action while cushioning the severe effects of severe wave action.