Trans RINA, Vol 155, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jan -Jun 2013
Assuming that the helmsman does not move around the bridge with great ease, fitting external rear view mirrors or video cams could make mooring easier.
AUTHORS’ RESPONSE
We are pleased to receive comments and opinions from such professionals in field of high speed craft design, operation, and also on ergonomics of such craft.
In response to John Kecmar comments, we were mostly considering small to medium size cruising boats where disabled owner is involved in all activities such as driving, fishing, etc. rather than sailing ships which take disabled persons mostly as passengers. And the size of craft we are talking about is largely covered by ISO standards, thus we have to play around those during design process.
We examined marina facilities and construction standards and it is obvious that boarding a yacht in the marina is almost impossible task, unfortunately. Thus, we have provided tender and crane, to enable such boarding where facilities for disabled do not exist.
The craft is particular design developed for particular
owner. Probably, given some skills and training it would be possible to use the boat without able body person on board, but we consider it not appropriate to state so for coastal use and frequent mooring in marina.
Once the paper is mostly concentrated on design issues we did not intend to go deep into assessment of motions, but just indicated importance of combined analysis of all properties of craft at early design stages. We have done comprehensive research recording vertical accelerations on earlier designed catamarans and monohulls, both model and full-size and combining those with theoretical calculations. It was found that for small craft given their typical proportions vertical accelerations on catamarans are 30-50% less compared to monohulls.
At this stage, it is hardly possible to assess MII for wheelchair user; there is no reference point and this is something that might
need further research and
measurements. We agree that side acceleration and lateral force at roll can be significant and this can be critical for person in a wheelchair, but such motions are mostly a feature of relatively narrow catamarans and present no issue on wide catamaran such as R1200 operated at inshore areas. Contrary, vertical accelerations on small coastal waves would cause shock and vibration at speed, this unfavorable accelerations being transmitted to the body of person on wheelchair. The wheelchairs are not designed to damp such accelerations, and such person is not able to use legs to damp those shocks. In the future, we
might conduct the measurements of
accelerations on the boat once launched and present those results in another paper.
It would be great if developers of ISO standards consider disabled yachting in their work.
Of course available measures of evacuation for disabled are limited; look at airplanes as example or tall buildings where elevators can not be used in emergency! We tried to a) minimize need of evacuation and b) best arrange the craft for such unlikely event. Say, location of master cabin on main level close to aft exit. Second exit also with no stairs, is available at bow. It should be mentioned that hulls
feature watertight bulkheads and double
bottoms, plus some compartments are filled with foam, thus sinking such catamaran would be a challenge. For fire safety, we use diesel fuel stove without open fire and special electrical system and some features to minimize the risks.
In response to Johan Ullman comments, the boat is powered
by outboard engines, thus we considered
mooring by bow and provided bow ramp with adjustable angle. There are also two side doors/ramps for side mooring. Stern area is reserved to engines and fishing equipment.
It is very correct that helm seat should be provided; we have provided such folding seat next to console, but details of this design might be reviewed at mock-ups of console and pilothouse. We consider that mock up stage is very important especially for such special design. As the boat is now in build, soon we will have an opportunity to look at this in more detail with real geometry. Any recommendations on improving seating for wheelchair user would be appreciated.
We have foreseen video cameras installed at aft deck to control the boat while mooring, and also for fishing/trolling operations.
In general, the authors believe that the problem of
wheelchair-friendly craft needs further study and we are confident that other designers will come with some interesting ideas and their own concepts, to benefit the aging population and boating industry.
C-90
©2013: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
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