Beach wheelchair?

[momz]

I realize this is not Disney related, but I thought someone here might be able to help me.

I am heading to Gulf Shores for an all girls trip with my mother and some other family members.

My mother has RA with all the mobility issues that come along with that. But in addition, she recently suffered a broken foot. She is ambulatory with a boot. On a good day, she can walk long enough to get her grocery shopping done. But now with the broken foot, she really struggles.

Anyway, I would like to help her to get out on the beach while we are there and recently heard about beach wheelchairs. Does anyone have any experience using one? Also, any information about how to go about renting one would be very helpful. I'm most likely interested in a manual one. But any advice is appreciated.

Anyone have any RA message boards? I think that reaching out to others with this problem would be helpful in many ways.

 

[Mary976]

I have heard of them, and you can see some examples here http://www.spinlife.com/critpath/match.cfm?categoryID=389. I'm not sure where you would rent one though. Hopefully someone else here will have some other ideas that could help you!

Mary

 

[videogal1]

I realize this is not Disney related, but I thought someone here might be able to help me.

I am heading to Gulf Shores for an all girls trip with my mother and some other family members.

Anyway, I would like to help her to get out on the beach while we are there and recently heard about beach wheelchairs. Does anyone have any experience using one? Also, any information about how to go about renting one would be very helpful. I'm most likely interested in a manual one. But any advice is appreciated.

I've used one twice. It took 2 grown men to push me in one on the loose sand...I weighed around 160.
Think of it as being like one person trying to push a car that has 2 flat tires on a dirt road. The bigger the car, the bigger the problem. It might be easy enough to push a 4-year-old in one on a sandy beach. Riding on one was like being pushed in a wheelbarrow They are only manual...Electrical things are not meant for beach use.

 

[Juliah]

We have used manual beach wheelchairs with our young adult DDs. They worked well, though pushing uphill was a big of a struggle--and I should add that DDs only weigh around 100 pounds each. We used them at a municipal beach in CA, and there was no charge. Beach wheelchairs at public beaches are becoming more common, but there are also places that rent.

Actually, there is such a thing as a power beach wheelchair, though we've never tried one. Here's a place in Gulf Shores that says it has them for rent. If you try them out, please report back--I'd love to know how well they work and if you can get them into the surf.

http://www.beachpowerrentals.com/

Hope you have a great vacation!