Wheelchair Access

What about a fancy bosuns chair and a davit?

Waterslide?

It's very difficult to make transitions like that without making a spectacle of the user. So I'd imagine a custom fabrication would be best. Possibly a stairlift, as used for stairs in a home, transitioning to a rail on the swim platform or even a lift system like you see on cars and vans. With a bit of glass work, etc. it could probably be folded or slid into a recess or even put behind a door when not in use. If you Google 'stairlift' you will come to several manufacturers.

Try calling Tony at T-N-T Dinghy Lifts to see what they can custom manufacture to work for you.

Judy

Hi,

I think he plans on getting the person back onboard by the same means, getting someone backwards up a waterslide in a dignified manner might be a bit of a stumbling block if they didn't want to look like a whaler.

Good Luck with that choice of Tender Gary, personally I would not have anything to do with them or the arrogant prick who builds them.

If you have the stair lift to the platform, could you consider replacing the platform with one that decends into the water like those used to pick wave runners and tenders onto the back of a smaller boat ?

Might not help with the ignorant prick boat but would help with the in and out of the water issue.

This company has a lot of high quality transom lifts:

http://www.h-btechnics.com/en/start.htm

There was a Royal Denship called Betty that had some slick way of getting the owner from his wheelchair into the water and back out. Perhaps you can find some photos of it or figure out who built the rig.

Transom lifts ... I just saw an example the other day that was built in to the aft edge of the swim platform and would extend down and out several feet to serve as a swim step ladder or up several feet to serve as a boarding ladder. The unit is articulated so that the flat portion remains level.

I will try and find out who made it.

I rode on the first 24' Cat they made, what a POS, it had a dive door that went down in the middle of the bow. They didn't gasket it or anything and spray would shoot up through where the door met the sponsons and soak you, it was also around $63k back in 2003. It lived a very short life on the megayacht that I was working on and they got rid of it. I have never seen any of their products age well.

I also took care of another 14 Jet from them that aged horribly, smoked like a banshee, and was so noisy (yamaha waverunner motor under console) you needed ear muffs to do slow speed zones in it.

As for the intitial question, you could have the bow meet the back of the boat with special attachment points. A chair lift that extends up to different heights and rotates 180 degrees would work. It's tough to get things custom made on a yacht for someone in a wheelchair, because everyone is so **** picky about asthetics.

Hi,

So it took 3 weeks to reveal another highly dis-satisfied customer.

Welcome to an every expanding group.

Did you have any luck with the Wheelchair Access question that you started the thread with?

Look at seawolfadventures.net. i did the summer in Glacier Bay National Park and the first trip was with 3 parapaligics (cops that had been shot in line of duty) SeaWolf had a sling that had arm rests and leg straps and we used the davit to get the clients in and out of the kayaks, dinghy, etc. It helped to have a proper platform at the water so the crew could guide them into the kayak. The boarding ladder had a platform that extended over the water, a glorified Marquipt. Check out their site and drop the owner a note. She has worked with wheelchair clients a long time and would be happy to give you suggestions. Be Safe.

Thanks for following up on this Garry.
Good to see you've found a good solution!
Is that water-powered lift also over the side or is it mounted on the swimplatform?

Cheers,

Bruno