My wife is in a wheelchair. Help how to get on an off a narrow boat

[Chrisarvor]

My wife is in a wheelchair.   There must be others who have narrow boats but how do you get on an off the boat.  I am quite capable of making ramp changing things etc

any help or advice please 

 

Edited Tuesday at 19:08 by Chrisarvor
Not finished title

[ditchcrawler]

Is this a temporary impediment or permanent . Lots of the charity boats have adaptions

[Arthur Marshall]

Is this for a planned boat of your own or a hire boat holiday? It also matters how much mobility there is beyond the wheelchair as usually there are a few steps down into a boat from the deck, and little room to manoeuvre within the boat.

[Tony Brooks]

There are narrowboats especially built for disabled people with things like hydraulic lifts to lift the wheelchair and person up to Gunwale height, so a ramp allows you to move it to the towpath. Others have a drop-down section of the bow that sits level with the front cockpit floor and the forms a down ramp. This type may well have a lift to get the chair form the inside floor level to the front cockpit level. 

 

The boat may have to be specially built to allow any doors and passage ways to be wide enough for the wheelchair.

 

There are a few charities operating "disabled" boats so they would probably be happy let you see what they have and how they cope. I think some are for hire.

[Stroudwater1]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

Is this a temporary impediment or permanent . Lots of the charity boats have adaptions

I agree.  There’s a lot of staffed trip boats that have these adaptations- locally The Willow Trust,  Cotswold canal Trust and Boatmobility all have adaptations. There’s many round the country. The one is the bow is cut for a openable door to be fabricated, then by a ramp goes onto the bank. Sometimes boats with this come up for sale but a good fabricator can make one quite readily. 
 

 

[Chrisarvor]

wow thanks for all the info  ,,,,we are coming back to the uk after 21 years away so it will be a new start i will check out what you have given me 

cheers Chris 

[1st ade]

4 hours ago, Chrisarvor said:

wow thanks for all the info  ,,,,we are coming back to the uk after 21 years away so it will be a new start i will check out what you have given me 

cheers Chris 

A few years ago, my brother and I took our Dad, in his wheelchair for a week on Bruce Boats. Well-equipped and they couldn't have been more helpful.

[Gybe Ho]

If you are looking to equip your own narrowboat for a wheelchair that would be problematic. In a new-build residential British house a mobility spec door must be 33" wide, the side corridor door frames on my narrowboat are 20" wide. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 07:05 by Gybe Ho

[Chris Lowe]

Have a look at the Wheely Boat Trust https://www.wheelyboats.org/wheelyboat-models 

They may be able to help.

[Chrisarvor]

thanks i  will contact them

 

[cuthound]

I took a disabled friend who was wheelchair bound on a boat hired from the Lyneal Trust.

 

https://lyneal-trust.org.uk/

 

Even if you eventually want to own your own modified boat it may give you ideas to visit them.

Edited Wednesday at 07:33 by cuthound
To remove a full stop masquerading as a space.

[blackrose]

The other thing to think about and perhaps drill, is how a disabled person will get off the boat quickly in the event of an emergency such as a fire. They should always be out on deck while going through locks for example. That goes for able-bodied people too. Boats do get caught on cills and gates, we hear about it all the time, and the last thing you want is someone trapped inside.

[koukouvagia]

I am involved in the restoration and re-purposing of the ex-horse boat Kilsby.  It is intended that we shall have a hydraulic wheelchair lift and we have identified firms that can fabricate one and make sure that it complies with all the exhaustive H&S regulations.

As a preliminary piece of research we collected the following list of organisations that may be able to help.

 

 

Accessible Boating Association – (Basingstoke)   https://www.accessibleboating.org.uk/ 

Baldwin Trust – (Leicester)  https://www.baldwintrust.co.uk/  

Bruce Trust - (Wilts & Berks)  https://bruceboats.katrust.org.uk/ 

CanalAbility – (Essex / Hertfordshire) https://www.canalability.org.uk/ 

Chesterfield Canal Trust – https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/trip-boats/hugh-henshall-worksop/ 

Hargreaves Narrowboat Trust – (Coventry) https://hargreavesnarrowboat.co.uk/our-narrowboat/ 

Lyneal Trust –  (Shropshire / North Wales) https://www.lyneal-trust.org.uk/ 

Nottingham Narrowboat Project – (Nottinghamshire) https://nottinghamnarrowboatproject.org.uk/ 

Pamela May Trust – (Worcestershire)  ( plus good info on risk assessments) https://nottinghamnarrowboatproject.org.uk/ 

Peter Le Marchant Trust – (Leicestershire) https://www.plmt.org.uk/ 

Rivertime Boat Trust – (Thames Valley) https://rivertimeboattrust.org.uk/ 

South Staffordshire Narrowboat Co – (Wolverhampton) https://www.ernestthomas.co.uk/ 

Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust – (Staffordshire) https://www.truman-enterprise.org.uk/ 

WCNT –  (Cheshire) https://wcnt.org.uk/ 

Wildside Activity Centre –   (Wolverhampton) https://www.wildsideac.co.uk/our-narrowboat-1 

Willow Trust –   (Gloucestershire) https://www.willowtrust.org/about-1 

 

See also https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/120174-disabled-access-on-trip-boats/ 

 

 Portable Wheelchair Lift Hire UK | Indoor or Outdoor - Magic Mobility Ltd 

https://lyfthaus.com/hidden-platform-lift/

 

 

[Gybe Ho]

Another point to consider is the outside view from an inside wheelchair sitting position. The eye level height of a 5ft 2" woman sitting in a wheelchair is 43" to 45". The portholes on my boat are a minimum of 50" high. The side hatches are better, they start at 41" high. Regular narrowboat windows start a little higher than a side hatch, I don't have any on my boat, could another forum member take a measurement?

[mrsmelly]

4 hours ago, blackrose said:

The other thing to think about and perhaps drill, is how a disabled person will get off the boat quickly in the event of an emergency such as a fire. They should always be out on deck while going through locks for example. That goes for able-bodied people too. Boats do get caught on cills and gates, we hear about it all the time, and the last thing you want is someone trapped inside.

Brings back memories of the L and L iirc in the nineties? When several disabled people drowned when a boat went down in a lock? I am sure it will be online. 

[alias]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Brings back memories of the L and L iirc in the nineties? When several disabled people drowned when a boat went down in a lock? I am sure it will be online. 

 

Gargrave Lock if I recall correctly.

[David Mack]

Drum Major

https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/contact-and-sinking-of-narrow-boat-drum-major-while-descending-in-steg-neck-lock-on-the-leeds-and-liverpool-canal-near-gargrave-england-with-loss-of-4-lives

[Chrisarvor]

ok thanks everyone i have gleaned some helpful information  many thanks wow thanks for all the info , i dont know how to close the post??? thanks 

 

,,,,we are coming back to the uk after 21 years away so it will be a new start i will check out what you have given me 

cheers Chris 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Glad the folk here were able to help. We don't close posts here. You, or someone else might want some more clarification, perhaps years later, so it can always be revived. 

[Butty Boy]

May possibly be useful?

 

https://www.awa-uk.org.uk/accessible-boating/