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Handicapped Access to Salon?

3K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  capecodda 
#1 ·
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!
 
#2 ·
Have you tried a bosun's chair or breeches buoy?

If you have a medical equipment supply company nearby, check out patient lifters.
Hoyer makes one of the best. They have different sizes & styles of slings, manual
or motorized operation, are wheeled. dismantleable and portable, and if you can get
a prescription, Medicare should pay for some of it. This site shows what I mean:

Patient Lifters - Home

Standard Disclaimer: I have no connection with the above-named companies. I worked
in the medical equipment business doing fitting, installation, repair and customization of
many kinds of patient-care devices.

Best of luck to you.

Gary
 
#3 ·
I think it's awesome that you guys aren't letting a disability keep you off the water!

It seems to me that a harness and halyard is a reasonably good option. If your husband can help to negotiate his limbs a bit, then the halyard can do the lifting. Perhaps installing an electric winch would be worthwhile in the long run?

Let us know what you come up with as it might help someone else in the future.
 
#5 ·
I am a sailor with a physical handicap (hemiparesis) due to an accident I had at age 3. I didn't start to learn about sailing until I was 12, nearly 40 years ago, but already knew how to overcome several obstacles AND define my limitations (which were few, fortunately). Here are a few observations and suggestions:

- Everyone is handicapped on the water. Look around at all of the contraptions we use (with or without mechanical advantage) and I hope you'll see what I mean. Somewhere, somehow, there is usually a solution that will work for you. Get those creative juices flowing.

- One of the best things your husband can do is lots of physical therapy. This is not only to minimize the atrophy but also to strengthen other body parts (e.g. arms and hands) to facilitate mobility when aboard. This is a sensitive topic, I know. Most people think that someone who endured 10 years of intensive PT as a kid would easily embrace a PT regimen as an adult; not so - I still hate doing it but I know the payoff makes it worthwhile.

- Think about a different sailboat. Many catamarans have only one step between the cockpit and salon. The stability of such designs provide a level platform that is so much easier to get around on. Shorter overall length in a catamaran can still provide as much accomodation as you expect now, also making many of the parts smaller and incrementally easier to handle. Yes, I understand cost is a factor but this is just a thought right now.

- Once you get enough posts feel free to PM me. If CRAB, noted above, isn't local to you there may be another handicap sailing program near you; just do some research. There are many handicap sailors in this world (and at least one famous sailing author), so do not get discouraged.

- To anyone reading this, I have always felt better using the term handicap in place of disability.
 
#7 ·
At times I am called on from workers comp court established funds to make adaptions for work place injuries. The goal is to change the built environment to permit independent freedom of movement. If upper body strength is available or can be built with therapy then work with an occupational therapist to locate hand holds and resting areas on the companion way steps. Maybe increase the slope of the steps to provide the option to sit on a step to rest before the next push to the top.
 
#8 ·
Well, we got him out of the salon using the halyard and main winch but it wasn't easy. A properly placed block and tackle would help. In my happy place I'd love to add tracks to either side of the salon steps and have a platform which would ride on them and raise/lower him with hydraulics or some other sort of mechanism. We've thought about buying a patient lift but that takes up an awful lot of room in the cockpit. Maybe we could tear it apart and reconfigure the working mechanism to fit our needs? And we do need to contact CRAB, which my brother-in-law had mentioned. They may be helpful.

Michael—we’ve looked online at catamarans but the price is intimidating and they still seem to have their share of stairs since you have to step down into the bed/head area. We’re considering a trip south to check out a pilot house boat hoping the more gradual descent would be easier but we also have to decide if pouring more money into sailing makes sense since this is a progressive disease and we’re not sure how much longer he can function at this level. Still, it’s only money and I’ve always believed in the saying that a dream is a bargain no matter how much it costs. And sorry to hear that you’re also facing challenges but you know the drill—try to hang onto what you have and take the rest as it comes. Our favorite line now is: It is what it is.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Is the companionway wide enough for a motorized stair lift? Can it be widened? The seat folds, but might still be too wide. You may have to remove it for unobstructed access. They are available with emergency battery, just in case.

Boat davit with bosun's chair? It could pivot, & break down for storage. I've seen them used on pickup
trucks to load things like car engines.
 
#10 ·
If you rig the upper block like a mainsheet block with an integrated cam cleat, the lower one attached to the bosuns chair, he could probably self assist to exit and enter. Stop by pulling the line into the cam cleat. You could even have an attachment welded under the boom to snap in a carabiner , or just fashion a strap.
 
#12 ·
But the tie's so stylish! :)

I think the OP said his legs were the main problem.

I can see how you might use some U-channel to make brackets & use a come-along or other ratcheting winch to move a wheeled seat up & down.

Do you have room to use a portable wheelchair ramp to reduce the angle of entry?

Is there a way to mount a lift in the overhead, as some garages have?

Sorry - used to brainstorm with my customers when they had an interesting problem.
 
#14 ·
I let my husband read all of your responses (and thank you so much for your great advice!) and while he did say no to the bow tie (more's the pity), some of the links led him to more links which led to a battery-powered ATV winch which could possibly be hung from the mast. It has a 2,000 lb rating but he has emailed to see what the dead weight rating is.

We'll figure this out. In the meantime I'll keep the cooler full of beer so he doesn't mind being stuck in the salon.
 
#15 ·
'stuck in the salon' with a 'cooler full of beer' watching the world drift by while someone else does the gruntwork - nice work if you can get it! :)

Personal mobility questions adressed to himself below - do not answer if you don't want to. It's easier to prescribe if we know what you can and cannot do.
(If you prefer, I am garybooks2012 at the googly commercial mail facility.)

Can you walk at all, or transfer to a mobility device? Trying to minimize the weight added to the boom, I am thinking of a snatch-block mounted over the hatchway with a cable running to a roller-furling-like winch, with a hand control you can use to raise or lower yourself. How do you get around in the cockpit & salon? How is your upper-body & arm strength? Have you looked at swimming-pool lifts?
 
#16 ·
Gary—his mobility is a moving target since this is a progressive disease. Right now he can walk a few steps with braces and a cane and somewhat longer distances with braces and a walker (we call it his Lamborghini). Beyond that he uses a manual wheelchair. His main mobility challenge now is lifting his foot, particularly the front of the foot, more than an inch or two. The standard step rise is about seven inches so we’ve built some inserts for our home steps to reduce the rise and we’re looking at ramps/lifts to help him manage at home. At the moment he does have the full use of his upper body and since the doctor has promised us this is a slower than normal progression of the disease, we’re hoping to keep the upper body for a number of years.

One of the blessings of a sailboat is that there are plenty of handholds, so he’s using them to aid his balance in the cockpit and salon. A swimming pool lift would be great but there’s not a whole lot of room in a 30-ft Catalina to start mounting lift systems. Ideally we’d like to come up with a more compact option, but it would also be ideal if it’s something he can use without assistance. My husband knows a whole lot more about the mechanical stuff than I do so he’s looking at your suggestions. We probably need to get the specs on all the lift options and start measuring the available space. Maybe there’s more space than I thought? I’m concerned about weight on the boom and I take it from your reply that you would be concerned as well.
 
#17 ·
OK, just bullring stuff:

Think of a hydraulic ram base at the bottom of the companionway. Its shaft when compressed is at bum height. Shaft extended is at top of companionway.
A simple, narrow, padded rectangular seat has one end secured to the top of the shaft.
Person hangs onto companionway rails.
As shaft extends the person can swivel the seat on the shaft to be facing aft so when shaft is fully extended he steps out into cockpit.

Understand what I mean?

Because the shaft rotates in the ram tube...

Sorry for non technical descriptions :) But could be made at home, almost.
 
#18 ·
What Mark described is available as a tub lift, operates off water pressure. Only problem is it would block companionway until parked somewhere.
N.B. weighs a ton in 'up' position because it's full of water, has to drain to drop.

What is the vertical distance to be covered?

Do you use a brace or splint to control foot drop?

Depending on your boom, you *may* want to reinforce it. I've read of booms being used as cranes to hoist dinghies, supplies, people & engines, so it is probably strong enough. My main concern is adding a minimum of extra weight and 'stuff'. Don't want anyone getting conked on the head, right?

An ATV winch sounds like a good idea - should be small & fairly weatherproof.

Right now, I'm tending toward the kind of thing you see on the Sea Angel copters used by Coast Guard & Navy rescue teams. Mount the winch near the base of the mast (should be strongest part of boat), ring on boom to attach block over companionway, whatever seat/sling works best. Hand control on a springy 'phone cord'. You might even use the rig as a boom vang to help shape your sail.
 
#19 ·
kc, I think the simple solution might be a ramp, sit on your bum and use hand strength to control the slide down and the pull back up. Bulky, inelegant, but simple. Other than that, once you get into lifts and hoists you are probably best off looking for a local machinist or someone who is actively involved with active assistance designs to try figuring out something that will take up the least space and cost, and offer the best reliability. For instance, the electric lifts that lift a wheelchair up behind the bumper of a car, could just as easily lift a small platform in your companionway, turning it into an elevator. But you still might want to cut away any "bridge deck" that has to be stepped over from the cockpit, and then reinforcing to compensate for that.

Surely there are some organizations that would have contacts, not just to salesmen but to folks who can do some clever engineering as well?
 
#21 ·
I see that they make battery powered versions of the electric stair lifts people put in their homes (such as with AmeriGlide). Don't know if they could handle the steeper angle or the space, but have you looked at these?
 
#22 · (Edited)
Mark, nice work!

He may have problems with thin or sensitive skin, and not scoot well. If so, use one of those 'lazy susans' sold to aid getting in & out of cars.
 
#25 ·
Mark, your diagram is awesome!! Now can you please come put it together for me? We'll throw an extra six pack in the cooler for you! :)

I tried to turn the thread over to my husband but see he hasn't replied. I think we're going to start with the simpler options and move on to the more bulky ones if simple doesn't work. And it looks like I'm treating him to a birthday trip to check out bigger boats that may be more adaptable. Anyone want to buy 36 acres in Colorado? That may be converted to boat money.

We had a second-hand (and ultimately useless) stair lift which we tried to install in our home and I'm quite familiar with their size and weight. Maybe that would work on a 40 ft boat but in our 30 ft Catalina the galley extends in front of the steps and I don't have the long run a more accommodating arrangement would give me. We're focusing now on boats that have no obstruction at the bottom of the steps and would give us the ability to ramp the steps for a more gradual rise. Or at least give us room for a standard lift seat.
 
#26 ·
KC,

I was thinking about your quest last night. If at all possible, whatever you use should have a manual-operation mode for backup. Batteries die, motors quit, hydraulic systems leak, cables break, people have problems.

You said a while back that you had used the halyard and harness successfully. Is it something you could fine-tune to use if your primary fails? Whatever you choose, practice your backup drill well - you could think of it as extra therapy.

What happens if [ you ] are incapacitated? I don't want to sound alarmist, just trying to cover the bases.
You can't beat Mr. Murphy* and Mr. Finagle**, but you can try to be ready for them.

* Murphy's Law: If anything CAN go wrong, it WILL go
wrong, probably at the worst possible time.

** Finagle's Corollary to Murphy's Law: Murphy was an optimist.
 
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