European Inland Waterways Access
for People with Disabilities |
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Contents
Overview. 2
Contact details. 2
Barge Design, the starting point. 3
Steering. 4
Visibility. 5
Getting On and Off 6
Other Access Strategies. 7
Other People’s Solutions. 9
John Wheatcroft 9
What have we found so far?. 10
England. 10
A summary of where I was able to successfully get on
and off in England. 13
Belgium. 15
A summary of where I was able to successfully get on
and off in Belgium.. 19
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There
were lots of books and websites offering all kinds of advice on the general
accessibility (or otherwise) in the cities and towns of the countries we
planned to visit on a barge. But little
on designing a wheelchair-friendly barge to live on and skipper, or on the
feasibility and practicalities of getting ashore along the European inland
waterways for those of us with a physical disability; the information
essential to folk who dream of living and travelling long-term on a barge
using wheelchairs, mobility scooters or who are starting to find steep steps
and narrow gangplanks a growing challenge.
This
webpage is a summary of what we have learnt so far. I will keep adding to
it as we go along and I’m keen to include others contributions so it’s as
comprehensive as possible.
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Please feel free to contact me at s.maclennan@bigpond.com.au |
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Our
barge “Endellion” was designed for me a wheelchair, user to live on
long-term, skipper and easily get on and off.
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The
living areas have many of the features usually seen in truly accessible homes
– tables at wheelchair-friendly heights, a wheel-in shower, strategically
placed grab rails, a vanity basin I can get to, sliding doors between
cabins and the like. The precise
measurements used were based on the Australian Access Standards as well as
our personal experiences modifying and living in other houses and
apartments. |
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The lifter at wheelhouse level. The ramp drops to create a safety barrier |
Down at saloon level and the portable ramp to stern deck |
Skippering Endellion from the raised scissor lifter. |
Like
most barges, “Endellion” had to have several floor levels; a mobility
challenge we dealt with by installing an electro-hydraulic lifting platform
- a scissor lifter. The platform lowers me from the wheelhouse-galley down
to the saloon level or up higher to skipper. A custom designed hinged ramp
fitted to the platform is also a safety barrier. I use a portable 2 metre ramp to get up
to the stern deck.
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Vetus follow-up steering – it was great when it worked.
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The manual steering wheel and joystick (left below LCD screen) now installed.
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As I need to steer seated in my wheelchair, a traditional vertically mounted wheel wasn’t practical. We initially used only a computer based Vetus electro-hydraulic “Follow-Up” steering system. Unfortunately in our first 200 hours proved to be unreliable, suddenly failing at critical times. We have added a horizontally mounted manual wheel as back-up and replaced the Follow-Up steering with a simpler joystick – no more problems!
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As
comfortable sitting down all day at the wheel may be, there are
disadvantages. It’s not possible for
example, to quickly move over to the
sides to check you are well lined up to enter a lock or to squeeze through
a narrow bridge arch. Sitting in a
wheelchair, I’m also not able to quickly turn round to look behind. Is a barge is approaching? Have we have cleared the rear lock gates? Or how are we going backing into that
marina berth? The solution has been
to fit vehicle two reversing cameras; one on the bow and another on the
stern. I can monitor either camera via a toggle switch on a small LCD
screen mounted on the dash board. As both cameras have wide-angle lenses –
140
degrees, they are best when in close proximity to objects – lock gates,
pontoons etc. |
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Selecting the view from the bow camera – forward or stern |
The stern camera |
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The
final critical design element was egress; ensuring “Endellion” was built to
enable people who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters or who have
difficulties walking in general to easily get on and off a boat. These are the key features. |
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There are no bulwarks or raised
gunwales around her square-cornered stern deck. Gaps and removable sections in the handrails
allow embarkation from either side as well as from the rear – handy when
backed into a birth on a marina. |
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I use a very stable and
manoeuvrable TDX-SR power wheelchair.
The 6 wheels mean it doesn’t tip on steeper slopes and smoothly
handles obstructions of up to 3 inches.
The chair’s centrally located wheels means turns up to 360 degrees
in its own length – a great advantage on narrow pontoons. |
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We bridge the gap to the shore with
one of our light-weight folding ramps.
We have several lengths. I’ve
found the longer the ramp the better, as lower gradients are easier to
navigate
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To make sure the ramps aren’t too
steep when rolling off onto narrow pontoons, we sometimes need to use
fenders and ropes to keep the barge out from the shore. |
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Our strategies, we are sure, are
not the only ways to successfully conquer the challenges of waterways
access on a barge. |
John Wheatcroft kindly sent pictures of the crane mounted on their
barge “Final Fling” used to lift a mobility scooter onto the shore in France. |
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John recently wrote:
Here are a few pictures of the
scooter unloading that give a selection of bank types. I am sure that with a bit of care in
selecting your mooring sites you will be able to get ashore at least in 50%
of occasions. |
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England. |
English inland waterways were
generally remarkably accessible for people with physical disabilities. Canal banks and pontoon heights were mostly
no more than a couple of hundred millimetres above or below our stern deck
height of 600mm, so I was able to disembark relatively easily. |
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British Waterways seems to have
obviously put a lot of thought into making their moorings, pontoons
and marinas accessible |
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Occasionally pontoons and canal
banks are at heights which mean I could drive straight off the barge
without using a ramp. |
Importantly, pontoons were
connected to the shore by gently sloping ramps like this, fitted with metal
flaps top and bottom which make a huge difference for wheelchair users or
people pushing trolleys. |
Accessibility was much the same
along the non-tidal Thames, administered
by the Environment Agency, though there were challenges in a few locations
where the pontoons or banks were just too high. There were some remarkable happy
surprises along the way too. |
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At Sonning, for example, the
lock-keeper’s wife sells tea, sandwiches and wonderful home-made cakes on
an island over the lock. Ramps are
on hand to assist wheelchair users to cross over the lock gates. It doesn’t
get much better than that!
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