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We have a 1988 Catalina 30 with three nearly vertical steps from the cockpit to the salon and my husband has a neurological disease which causes drop foot and atrophied leg muscles and makes it very difficult to climb out of the salon. Even getting down into the salon is dangerous as he doesn't have the strength in his legs to recover from a slip. We're on a lake so there's no reason to get caught in dangerous winds and so far it's worked to plop him behind the wheel and let me do the deck monkey stuff, but we're looking for a solution for salon access.
We have a harness so we're going to try using the mainsail halyard and a winch, but surely there's something easier. Anyone have any ideas? He's in the salon as I type and we'll have to get him out to go sailing in the morning--but no pressure!
I have a sister with CP that effects her lower body, but she has excellent upper body strength. She can get herself around our boat better than she can ashore. As the OP points out, hand holds on sail boats tend to be placed strategically. I'm a little worried about a cat, in that the hand holds are usually fewer and further between, but I am sure if you search and add hand holds you can make it work.
The 2 difficult steps are boarding from a dock or dingy, and going below as mentioned. We have used a bosuns chair successfully in both cases, suspended from the boom. Another nice thing about a sail boat is that you can find ways of leading lines to winches and blocks to create huge mechanical advantage, and easily lift anyone.
Once my sister is on deck or below, she needs no help moving around as hand holds are always within easy reach.
Good luck and PM me for details if you like. It's terrific you are out there doing it. Don't give up, just adapt!
Manatee: If there’s a way to worry about something that may never happen, I’ll find it. But I’m pretty sure we’re never far from help on our lake. Cell phone coverage is everywhere and the guys at the marina would surely come help if we were at anchorage. At dock we might have to wait for our buddies to sober up enough to help but that’s only a matter of time. Being on a lake gives me a much better sense of security than I would have on the ocean. Our back-up to any electrical system we might add would be the halyard/harness and if that fails then we can always get a few guys together to shove him out the hatch.
Cape: I’m aware that catamaran handholds aren’t as nearly spaced and the same issue may be true with bigger single hulls, particularly with the coastal cruisers we’d be more likely to afford. Guess we’ll just have to look at them and see how they’ll work. Good for your sister for not letting CP get her down! Send her our happy thoughts for lots more years of happy sailing.
What about a ramp? Perhaps one could be made with nonslip material on top. The ramp could then be placed over the stairs and secured in some way. You could then enter the salon first and provide support.
Good for your sister for not letting CP get her down! Send her our happy thoughts for lots more years of happy sailing.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I'll tell her....and we know you'll succeed with this!
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