Abstract:
A mooring device for a water craft capable of storing and dispensing a line used to moor a boat or the like is disclosed. A spring biased reel assembly carrying a mooring line is rotatably mounted on a surface of the craft. The reel assembly is urged by the spring toward a line take-up direction. The free end of the line passes through a lock assembly mounted on the water craft housing. In one position, the lock assembly selectively inhibits travel of the line and hence rotation of the reel assembly so that the paid-out line remains of a fixed length. In another position, the line travels freely and can be taken up by the spring action of the reel assembly.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates generally to water craft mooring or tethering devices and, more specifically, to such a device which is capable of storing and dispensing variable lengths of mooring line and which provides positive locking of the line so as to maintain a water craft in a fixed position relative to another object such as a dock, pier, or another vessel. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   Typically a boat or other water craft is secured in a stationary position by tying the frame of the craft to a fixed mooring facility such as a dock or pier with a rope or other type mooring line. The craft must be equipped with a sufficient length of line to enable it to be secured under a variety of mooring conditions. Such factors as the proximity and dimensions of the mooring facility will determine the length of line required to secure the craft in a given situation. The length of the mooring line must be adjustable based upon the requirements imposed by a wide variety of mooring conditions. Rope or line which is not being used to secure the craft should be stowed on board the water craft in a neat and orderly fashion. A mooring line which is kept coiled or loosely stored in the bottom of the craft may become knotted and/or entangled with passengers, cargo and other equipment on board the craft. 
   In recent years, the so-called “personal water crafts” such as the Sea-Doo® manufactured by Bombardier, Inc., and the Waverunner® manufactured by Yamaha, Inc. have become increasingly popular. These power craft provide some of the feel or experience of both motor powered water craft and skis. A number of these craft are intended to be operated by a single user with perhaps one passenger. As a result, storage space is severely limited. Because of the small, compact nature of these craft and the general lack of available storage space, these craft have not, in the past, generally been equipped with any satisfactory tie down or mooring accessory. While larger boats might be able to accommodate a variety of relatively complicated winches and take up reels or on-deck cleats, the personal water craft of the above type continues to have a need for a small, relatively uncomplicated and compact tie down accessory. 
   A need exists, therefore, for a device which can be affixed to a water craft, including a personal water craft of the Sea-Doo® variety, which is capable of storing a sufficient quantity of mooring line and dispensing the line in variable lengths. 
   A need also exists for such a mechanism which can be affixed to a personal water craft which is capable of reliably and repeatably extending and retracting a tethering line while simultaneously providing positive locking of the tether once a desired length of line has been payed out. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The mooring device constructed in accordance with the present invention provides a convenient, compact and effective means of storing and dispensing line used to secure a water craft in a desired location. The device includes a spring loaded payoff reel mounted on a planar surface of the water craft for dispensing a mooring line. A line passage hole is provided in the planar surface of the water craft adjacent the payoff reel for receiving the mooring line. A locking mechanism comprising a pair of inner and outer nested cylinders is mounted within the line passage hole, each of the nested cylinders having a rear cylinder sidewall provided with a line passage aperture through which a free end of the mooring line passes. The inner nested cylinder is rotatably mounted relative to the outer nested cylinder. The inner nested cylinder is movable between an unlocked position in which the rear cylinder wall apertures are aligned and the mooring line freely travels to allow the mooring line to freely unwind from the payoff reel and a locked position in which the apertures are misaligned and the mooring line is clinched between the rear cylinder sidewalls. When the device is mounted within the line passage hole in the planar surface of the water craft, an exposed end of the inner nested cylinder is exposed for manual actuation and the mooring line is exposed for extension to a mooring structure. Preferably, the manual actuation of the exposed end of the inner nested cylinder is accomplished by a user grasping and rotating the inner cylinder relative to the outer cylinder 
   In a particularly preferred form of the invention, the outer nested cylinder has a mounting flange integrally fixed on an outer cylindrical sidewall thereof, the mounting flange being provided with a plurality of fastener openings. The mounting flange is received on the inner planar surface of the water craft peripheral to the line passage hole. A mating keeper plate is mounted on an outer planar surface of the water craft peripheral to the line passage hole. The keeper plate also has a plurality of fastener openings which are alignable with the openings on the mounting flange for receiving mating fasteners. For providing the movement between the unlocked and locked positions the outer nested cylinder is provided with a cam opening and the inner nested cylinder is provided with a mating cam, whereby the cam travels in the cam opening as the inner nested cylinder is rotated to move the locking mechanism between the unlocked and locked positions. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cam extends perpendicular to the outer cylindrical sidewall of the inner nested cylinder and the cam opening provided in the outer nested cylinder is an elongate slot. 
   A method of mooring a water craft is also shown in which the previously described tie up device is mounted on a water craft and line is payed out through the aligned apertures of the rear cylinder sidewalls of the nested cylinders. Once the desired length of line has been fed out, a user rotates the inner nested cylinder relative to the outer cylinder so that the cylinder apertures are misaligned and the mooring line is clinched between the rear cylinder sidewalls to thereby rotationally lock a given length of paid out line. The operation is reversed by simply rotating the inner nested cylinder in the opposite direction to again allow free travel of the line through the now aligned cylinder apertures so that the spring action of the payout reel is allowed to retrieve the paid out line onto the reel. 
   Additional objects, features and advantages will be apparent in the written description which follows. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a water craft which is equipped with the tie up accessory of the invention, a portion of the planar sidewall of the water craft being shown broken away in order to reveal the spring loaded payout reel. 
       FIG. 2  is an isolated, side view of the locking mechanism of the device of the invention showing a portion of the mooring line being paid out through the aligned openings of the nested cylinders. 
       FIG. 3A  is an exploded view of the locking mechanism of the device of the invention showing the mounting components thereof. 
       FIG. 3B  is a rear view of the locking mechanism showing the cylinder apertures in the unlocked position. 
       FIG. 3C  is also a rear view of the locking mechanism of the invention but showing the cylinder apertures in the locked position with the mooring line removed for ease of illustration. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1  shows a water craft  10  of the type intended to be fitted with the tie-up accessory of the present invention. It will be appreciated in the discussion which follows that the tie-up accessory of the invention could be utilized with a variety of different type water craft and boats and, in fact, could even be mounted on the mooring itself rather than on the craft. However, the invention has particular application to the “personal water craft” of the type illustrated as  10  in  FIG. 1 . As mentioned briefly in the background discussion of the invention, these type craft are sold commercially as the Sea-Doo® by Bombardier, Inc., the Waverunner® by Yamaha, Inc. Other commercially available craft are manufactured by Kawasaki, Inc. and Polaris, Inc. The present invention has particular applicability to personal water craft of the type shown because of the lightweight and maneuverable nature of the craft and due to the fact that only a limited amount of storage space is typically available on the craft. Also, personal water craft of the type illustrated in  FIG. 1  have not typically been provided with a convenient tethering or tie-up mechanism in the past. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , the tie-up accessory of the invention includes, as one component thereof, a spring-loaded payoff reel  11  which is mounted on a convenient planar surface of the water craft for dispensing a mooring line  17 . Although the payoff reel could be mounted in a variety of locations, it is preferably mounted on an inside planar surface ( 16  in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) of the console  12 . In the embodiment of the device illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the reel  11  is mounted by means of spaced apart side arms  14  on the inside planar surface  16 . The side arms  14  could also be attached in other ways. For example, the side arms could be attached to a convenient surface of the locking mechanism (to be described) of the tie-up accessory. 
   The payoff reel  11 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , has opposing guide walls  18 ,  20  and a centrally located spool (shown in dotted lines as  22  in  FIG. 1 ) for retaining the mooring line on the reel and for extending and retracting the mooring line. The console  12 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , is equipped with a line passage hole (approximately at  24  in  FIG. 1 ) which is located in the planar surface  16  of the water craft  10  adjacent the payoff reel  11 . While the reel  11  could be mounted, for example, on the bulkhead  26 , it is most conveniently mounted adjacent and spanning the line passage hole  24 . As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , the mounting arms  14  mount the reel  11  such that the spool rotates in a plane, substantially perpendicular to the planar surface  16  of the water craft. The payoff reel  11  is spring biased to rotate in a take-up direction for retracting the mooring line  17 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3A , a locking mechanism is provided for controlling the payout and retraction of the mooring line  17 . The locking mechanism  15  includes a pair of inner and outer nested cylinders ( 19 ,  30  in  FIG. 3A ) which are mounted within the line passage hole ( 24  in  FIG. 1 ). The line passage hole can be formed in any convenient fashion, for example, by drilling or cutting through the planar surface of the water craft. Each of the nested cylinders  19 ,  30  has generally cylindrical sidewall portion and a rear sidewall  21 ,  23 , respectively. The rear sidewalls  21 ,  23  are each provided with line passage aperture  29 ,  31 , respectively, through which a free end ( 33  in  FIG. 2 ) of the mooring lines  17  passes. As will be described in greater detail below, the inner cylinder  30  is rotatably mounted relative to the outer nested cylinder  19 . 
   As best seen in  FIG. 3A , the outer nested cylinder  19  has a circumferential mounting flange  35  integrally molded or fixed on the outer cylindrical sidewall thereof and provided with a plurality of fastener openings  37 . The mounting flange  35  is received on the inner planar surface ( 16  in  FIG. 2 ) of the water craft peripheral to the line passage hole  24 . A sealing gasket  39  is preferably received on an outer planar surface  41  of the water craft in order to provide a water tight seal for the locking mechanism. A mating keeper plate  43  is mounted on the outer planar surface  41  of the water craft peripheral to the line passage hole  24 . The keeper plate  43  also has a plurality of fastener openings ( 45  in  FIG. 3A ) which are alignable with the openings  37  on the mounting flange  35  for receiving mating fasteners. In the embodiment of the device shown in  FIG. 3A , the fasteners are a plurality of nuts  47  and threaded bolts  49 . 
   As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3A , the outer nested cylinder  19  is provided with a cam opening in the form of a longitudinal slot  51  having a bottom foot region  53 . The inner nested cylinder  30  has a mounting opening ( 55  in  FIG. 3A ) into which is fitted a vertically extending cam  57  ( FIG. 2 ). The cam  57  travels in the cam opening  51  as the inner nested cylinder  30  is rotated to move the locking mechanism between unlocked and locked positions. The cam  57  extends perpendicular to the outer cylindrical sidewall of the inner nested cylinder. 
   The installation and operation of the device of the invention is as follows. As shown in  FIG. 2  and described above, the inner and outer nested cylinders are installed on the planar surface of the craft by means of the mounting flange  35  and keeper plate  43 . After drilling a suitable line passage hole, the inner nested cylinder  30  is installed with the interior of the outer nested cylinder  19  with the exposed end  59  being exposed for manual actuation by a user. The cam  57  is installed within the mounting opening  55  so that the inner cylinder can be rotated relative to the outer cylinder but longitudinal movement is restricted. The mooring line  17  is fed through the aligned openings (opening  31  visible in  FIG. 3B ) so that the free end  33  exits the locking mechanism on the exterior of the planar mounting surface. In the example shown in  FIG. 2 , an accessory clip  63  is attached to the free end  33  of the mooring line  17 . 
   As illustrated in  FIGS. 3B and 3C , the inner nested cylinder  19  is movable between an unlocked position in which the rear cylinder apertures ( 31  illustrated in  FIG. 3B ) are aligned and the mooring line freely travels to allow the mooring line to freely unwind from the payoff reel and a locked position in which the apertures are misaligned (shown at  29  and  31  in  FIG. 3C ) and the mooring line is clinched between the rear cylinder sidewalls  21 ,  23  to thereby rotationally lock a given length of paid-out line. The manual actuation of the exposed end  59  of the inner nested cylinder  30  is easily accomplished by a user grasping and rotating the inner cylinder  30  relative to the outer cylinder  19 . 
   When the line passage apertures  29 ,  31  are aligned as shown in  FIG. 3B , a user can easily pull the mooring line  17  through the line passage hole  24  provided in the water craft sidewall so that the accessory clip  63  can be used to moor the device to a dock or other object. Once the desired length of line has been paid out, the user rotates the exposed end  59  of the inner cylinder  30  in order to bind or pinch the mooring line  17  between the respective line passage apertures  29 ,  31  of the locking mechanism. This action secures a fixed length of paid out line and resists the spring tension exerted on the line by means of the payoff reel  11 . Once the exposed end  59  is rotated in the opposite direction so that the line passage apertures are once again aligned, the mooring lines  17  is retracted and would back upon the spool of the payout reel  11  by means of the spring tension exerted upon the spool. 
   An invention has been provided with several advantages. The tie-up accessory of the invention is simple in design and economical to manufacture. The payoff reel of the device can be located on an interior surface of a console so that it does not detract from the esthetic appearance of the craft. The locking mechanism requires only that a single hole be drilled or cut through the craft sidewall at a single location plus small holes for the mounting fasteners. The simple rotational locking action of the nested cylinders provides a simple yet effective means for fixing a given length of paid out line against the spring tension of the take up reel. The device is ideally suited for use with a personal water craft since such crafts tend to be lighter and smaller than traditional boats, thereby allowing a simpler and lighter weight locking mechanism to be utilized. 
   While the invention has been shown in only one of its forms, it is not thus limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.