A multi-element floating dock has shock-absorbing flexible tieing elements which are installed as a unit without any manual adjustment being required to create a pretensionin the shock-absorbing components. Elastomeric pads positioned in aligned cavities formed in the edges of the dock sections receive the ends of the flexible tieing elements. Stops located on the ends of the tieing elements engage the pads so that adjacent dock sections cannot be separated from one another without compressing the pads and thereby creating a compressibly yieldable restraint against the separation of the dock sections and preventing their being separated from one another past a predetermined limit. An elastomeric spacer located between adjacent dock sections provides a compressibly yieldable restraint against moving the dock sections toward one another and prevents them from coming closer to one another then a predetermined amount. Tension plates fit between the stops and the ends of the cavities to precompress the pads and the elastomeric joint is wider than the normal gap formed between the dock sections thereby requiring it to be precompressed when it is installed. A line-up sleeve located in the center of the cable is engaged by counterbores formed in the pads and by the ends of the cavities to prevent lateral and vertical movement between adjacent dock sections.
