1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of watercraft. More particularly, it relates to apparatuses and methods useful for helping to center watercraft—such as personal watercraft, ski boats, fishing boats, luxury boats, and the like—as they are docked (such as on trailers or watercraft-lifting systems).
2. Description of Related Art
Some trailers for loading and transporting boats and other watercraft are equipped with bunks positioned along the length of a portion of the trailer. As the boat or other watercraft is driven onto the trailer for loading, the hull of the craft contacts the bunks and ultimately rests on them once the craft is out of the water. The bunks help guide a craft that is loaded in calm waters, but they are not very useful for centering a craft that is loaded in rough waters and/or strong crosswinds. A craft loaded during such conditions can get banged around by the bunks and potentially damaged.
Some trailers use rollers (e.g., wobble rollers and keel rollers) instead of, or in addition to, bunks. Rollers are not much more helpful than bunks at centering a craft that is loaded in rough waters and/or strong crosswinds. Furthermore, rollers may damage the hull of the craft because of the large amount of force that can apply to a small area of the hull.
A number of trailer guides and mechanisms designed to make boat loading easier have been disclosed. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,209,279; 3,608,754; 3,026,981; 3,447,815; 5,228,713; 5,013,206; 4,242,768; 4,715,768; 4,094,527; 4,099,279; 5,299,903; 4,500,249; and 4,529,217, all of which are incorporated by reference. While each of these disclosures purport to solve problems associated with boat loading, the inventor has discovered that none is completely satisfactory.
Some watercraft, especially boats, are stored on the water instead of being trailered. Watercraft that are stored on the water are generally lifted out of the water using a lifting mechanism of some kind in order to minimize damage to the craft that might otherwise occur (i.e., corrosion from the water, damage due to rough waters, etc.). Some lifting mechanisms involve lift tanks to which bunks are attached. Although lift tanks are generally more protected from rough waters and/or crosswinds than are trailers, such conditions can still make steering a craft into place over a lift tank (or other watercraft-lifting system) difficult. The bunks attached to such lift tanks are generally not satisfactory at helping to center or centering the craft in the appropriate position over the tanks.