fixed pilings, short legs, and boarding boats

I hope someone has a simple solution to this one. It is causing problems for us. As the short partner, with a 6'4" tall other half, what he thinks is comfortable isn't for me, when it comes to boarding the boat. Problems: Besides my height, I've got one artificial hip, with the other one and both knees heading south at this time. Not good range of motion. Also, lack muscle strength in legs from many surgeries. Makes lifting difficult. Can't jump down either for the pain. We're living aboard, so I can't just wait out the tides for getting on and off the boat. The situation is complicated by several things. Docks are fixed rather than floating, so sometimes the boat is way above dock level and sometimes way below dock level. Then there's the very strong current on this river. Add to that the no-wake zone should be called the wake zone. Huge yachts, and small boats too, show no mercy here, throwing the boats in the marinas all over the place. Not to mention what they're doing to the shoreline. Now, to protect the boat from the current and the horrific bashing from boat wakes, DH likes to keep the boat tied centered between the pilings. That's fine with me and makes very good sense. But I cannot safely get on and off the boat at any time other than slack tide. I handle all grocery shopping, laundry, maintenance, cleaning, etc, other than mechanical and electrical stuff, so often have to transfer stuff on and off also. Does anybody have an idea for a way around this? DH is also not handy as far as making anything for this purpose. Help please! girlsaylor

When my son broke his leg he had a full cast up to the hip I would swing the boom out to him and basicly sheet him in. With a little inginuity you could haul things in using the boom. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: jeribelle2000 To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2006 12:14 PM Subject: [Cal_Boats] fixed pilings, short legs, and boarding boats I hope someone has a simple solution to this one. It is causing problems for us. As the short partner, with a 6'4" tall other half, what he thinks is comfortable isn't for me, when it comes to boarding the boat. Problems: Besides my height, I've got one artificial hip, with the other one and both knees heading south at this time. Not good range of motion. Also, lack muscle strength in legs from many surgeries. Makes lifting difficult. Can't jump down either for the pain. We're living aboard, so I can't just wait out the tides for getting on and off the boat. The situation is complicated by several things. Docks are fixed rather than floating, so sometimes the boat is way above dock level and sometimes way below dock level. Then there's the very strong current on this river. Add to that the no-wake zone should be called the wake zone. Huge yachts, and small boats too, show no mercy here, throwing the boats in the marinas all over the place. Not to mention what they're doing to the shoreline. Now, to protect the boat from the current and the horrific bashing from boat wakes, DH likes to keep the boat tied centered between the pilings. That's fine with me and makes very good sense. But I cannot safely get on and off the boat at any time other than slack tide. I handle all grocery shopping, laundry, maintenance, cleaning, etc, other than mechanical and electrical stuff, so often have to transfer stuff on and off also. Does anybody have an idea for a way around this? DH is also not handy as far as making anything for this purpose. Help please! girlsaylor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS a.. Visit your group "Cal_Boats" on the web. b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------