My daughter's special needs

[robcan]

Hi all, i've been trying to research this, but haven't come up with much.

I have a daughter with Cerebral Palsy who is in a wheelchair. She's in her mid teens and weighs over 100lbs. I can lift and carry her, but as I am in the process of buying a 34' Catalina (Fixed Pier Dock), I'm looking for ways to 'lift' her into the cockpit. There is a walk through transom and destroyer wheel.

I'm thinking about a bosun chair on the main halyard and walk her into the cockpit, lower her in. Has anyone done this/seen this? I'd want to make it as safe as possible and haven't thought through it all...looking for direction.

She has a special life jacket that keeps her upright in the water (we handled a jet ski whipeout pretty well)...and I'll be in the chesapeake.

I've looked into cockpit seating setups and I saw one design where a chair with a post and 3-point belt was inserted into the cockpit bench where a hole was set up for the post. Obviously some fiberglass work and all sealed up.

I want her to be able to enjoy the sailing experience with the whole family (5 kids) but it obviously needs to be as safe as I can make it.

Thanks!

[UPHILL]

Maybe you could use the boom, swing it out with the halyard hooked on the end. Might give more control.

Just a thought.

[PCP]

Before trying anything talk with the ones that have real experience with disabilities:

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Welcome Aboard SAIL TO PREVAIL - Moving Beyond Disabilities

Good luck to you and your sister

Regards

Paulo

[MarkofSeaLife]

What about a outboard motor hoist on the aft swim platform rails? Could you then swing her straight from the dinghy into the cockpit?

[blt2ski]

Locally in Seattle we have a group call 'Outdoors For All" they have just about ANY kind of out door class etc for special needs folks. Sailing being one of them, altho personally I am not as familiar with this part. Snow skiing yes. A local group like this may have ideas.

My initial thought was the setup on the end of the boom to hoist an overboard person. Not sure a main halyard would be my first choice either.

marty

[svHyLyte]

The wife of one of our close friends has developed ALS and has very little use of her lower body. Never-the-less, they keep sailing. In their case, they have a 3-part man overboard recovery rig that they suspend from the boom. The wife wears a good padded fabric bosen's seat to which the MOB recovery tackle is attached. With this the husband is able to easily hoist her from a dinghy and/or from her wheel chair dock-side and swing her over the cockpit. Once aboard she is able to make her way around without all that much difficulty as she has developed remarkable upper body strength.

FWIW...

[Quickstep192]

You may want to contact Don Backe at Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating. Don is a terrific guy who is himself handicapped and has been helping disabled people get on boats for quite some time.


Home « Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating

[Faster]

You might want to invest in a folding wheel to aid in getting her around the cockpit once she's aboard.. Is the boat a MK II? or an earlier MK1.5? The latter's transom walkthrough is probably too tight to make use of with a ramp for stern boarding? Does the pier height preclude this?

Hoisting using the boom would definitely give more control - you can use the main halyard still, just use the boom as a yardarm too (sling around the boom and lift it with the halyard. You might also want an electric winch for this if it's to be a regular occurrence, esp if lifting her out of a dinghy is likely to be involved. Even cranking 100 lbs (never mind the weight of the chair/seat etc) will take some doing with a manual winch.

Kudos, btw for wanting to enable her enjoyment with the rest of the family. Best of luck.

[GeorgeB]

I own a C34 MkII so perhaps I can give you some insight. It will be difficult to manouver a handicapped person around the 40” steering wheel from a stern tie. Even removed, this wouldn’t be so easy. One of my marina neighbors takes handicapped passengers on his C34 (MkII with roller furling main). He rigs his boom as a jib crane in order to make the transfer. He also re-mounted his primaries aft as well as rerouting the main and traveller controls aft so he can do all trimming from behind the wheel. Another neighbor’s wife has MS (uses a walker) and has configured his C350 so she can enter via the stern/swim platform. He did a fair amount of custom SS work adding railings, hand holds, etc.

[SVAuspicious]

+1 for Don at CRAB. There is the added benefit of being near you on the Chesapeake so you can go look at their solutions. CRAB goes to most of the local boat shows.