JOHN T WILSON, M.D.
Osteopathic Medicine at Kings Hwy, Shreveport, LA

4751891, Jun 21, 1988

Nov 17, 1986

6/930920

John T. Wilson - Shreveport LA

B63B 5902

114219

A bow protector for protecting and cushioning the bow of watercraft such as sailboats, which includes a shaped, impact-receiving nose portion having a V-shaped inner angle for engaging the front edge of the bow and rearwardly extending arms designed to seat on opposite anterior surfaces of the bow. In a preferred embodiment the bow protector is provided with a longitudinal impact slot extending through the center of the nose portion and spaced ancillary impact slots also projecting through the nose portion and located adjacent to the central impact slot, in order to cushion impact forces received by the bow protector when the watercraft strikes a dock, another watercraft or any other relatively unyielding object. The bow protector is suspended on the bow of the watercraft by means of starboard and port elastic guy lines which extend through guy line openings provided in the bow protector and are anchored to cleats secured to the foredeck of the watercraft. The bow protector is particularly well designed to absorb and displace the shock of collision between angled bow sailboats and a dock or other object, by initially elastically deforming upon impact to perform a primary cushioning function and subsequently allowing the bow to ride upwardly with respect to the bow protector, in order to further dissipate the impact shock in a secondary shock-absorbing action.