Crab crawling boat is unlikely accessibility boost for wheelchair users

From the romanticised world of Moby Dick to Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, the open water has always held an indisputable attraction in the minds of the dreamers. One company has developed a mind blowing range of boats that can make the shore and the water a lot more accessible to people who use a wheelchair.

Although designed for more generally commercial purposes (fishing, Enforcement patrols, etc), the Hard Drive Marine landing crafts should be of great interest to the wheelchair users…

So what does it do?

In a nutshell the boat comes right up onto the shore and a hatch at the front comes down making a ramp linking the boat to land.

Big deal, that’s been around for a while

Here’s the twist. The hatch/ramp has “clamp” like grips on either side at the front that enables the boat to literally claw its way up the shore on dry land. So if the boat needs to come further in for the safety of the wheelchair user disembarking, that’s no problem. This works both ways and the claws of the landing craft can back track back into the water.

Independent living can probably be summed up in two words; dignity and choice. The HDM landing crafts offer a simple but very clever solution to a problem, with a ramp provided, and no need for a pier or any undignified transfer of passenger on or off the boat. The whole cabin of the craft (or some models at least) move backwards and forwards to allow more room on the boat for a larger wheelchair or a mobility scooter. As an added bonus the range of landing crafts are noted for their unusual speed and agility on the water (for the thrill seekers).

See for yourself. Here is a video of the landing crafts in action…