Going to the beach is a challenge with special needs. There are beach wheelchairs on the market and most of them will not work for a person with little or no tone to hold their torso or head in place. The real problem is the astronomical cost of these things. I'm not sure how their manufactures keep a clear conscience. I hope this entry encourages folks to make their own. Even if you spent $200-$300 in parts, it is cheaper than one you can get and it will be customized to your needs. I spent less than $130 by using what we had.
So, to overcome this, we made our own. Our local Family Connection office has a beach wheelchair we can borrow, but the seat is at a 90 degree angle which is not helpful for Macayla. Plus it has no lateral or head supports and she is too big for us to sit another type of seat on it. But we used the back wheels off of the chair for the chair we made. Below are some pictures and descriptions of what we did. I've tried to reference any websites for products that help with this. I made the frame out of PVC pipe and it held all 220 lbs. of me. I'm happy it held me, but sad I weigh that much! Anywho, It would be better if made out of furniture grade PVC and the better fittings you can get with it. Since I made the front wheels, I have discovered another way they can be done if you want to spend the money for it. This chair can be broken down for travel.
The beach chair fully assembled.
This was a lounge chair that worked for Macayla as far as angles and reclining ability. It has similar angles to her articulating bed at home. We bought this one at Big Lots for $48. The chair simply sits down in the frame I built. I used heavy zip ties to hold the chair in place, though it could be done with bolts or other ways. Of course the lounge chair folds up for travel.
The blue cover we found at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $20 minus the 20% off coupon. It is terry cloth and is meant to drape over a normal lounge chair. Below are some straps my mom sewed on to it so we could cinch the cover on the chair tightly at the head. This helped to keep the headrest in place (shown a few pictures below).
We created a lateral support system with a child's life vest. It had enough straps on it to strap securely to the chair and stay in place. I added a strap to hold it together around her torso like a big belt. This could also be accomplished easier with the lateral supports that can be ordered for bath chairs. We did not have the time to order any before our trip. Plus this saved us some money. The blue pillows were also bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond. They are designed for lounge chairs and have straps with clips to clip onto the chair. We strapped them onto the arms for extra comfort.
This is the other side of the lateral belt. It is a child's life vest that is worn like a sandwich board. The straps that normally wrap around the child's torso were used to strap the vest to the chair.
We used velcro to attach this hand towel to the life jacket so it would be more comfortable.
This is a close up of the headrest. We found some "hot tub" pillows at Bed, Bath and Beyond on clearance. They are vinyl-coated foam pillows with a weighted flange on them meant for someone to lean their head back on while sitting in a hot tub. We cut the flange off and used one on each side of Macayla's head to keep it in place. The blue lounge chair cover has pockets that hang off of each side to stow stuff. We cut two of the pockets off and they happened to be the right size for these pillows. We sewed the pockets in position and inserted the pillows. My mom utilized some ties from the cover and a button she found at Wal-mart to close the pockets and keep the pillows in. This really kept Macayla's head from flopping over to either side.
As one of the ways to make the chair more compact for travel, I used an old bike carrier for a car. I cut it so that I could slide the 1" PVC pipe over it and use self-tapping screws to hold the pipe onto the tubing of the bike carrier. The arms meant to hold the bikes became the arms that went back to my push handle for the chair. When the chair is disassembled, I can fold up the handle section in the same way the bike carrier folded up.
1" aluminum tubing (available at Lowe's or Home Depot) slides perfectly inside 1" PVC pipe. Here I bolted a PVC pipe to the frame and there is aluminum tubing inside it. The aluminum extends up and is exposed above the frame. The PVC from the bike-carrier handle then slides over the exposed aluminum tubing. I then used a pin from said hardware stores to lock the two together. So, bolts hold the pipe and tubing together and to the frame. A removable pin holds the handle's PVC and tubing together just above the frame.
These are the Roleez wheels we borrowed. There is another brand called Wheeleez as well. They slide perfectly onto the 1" aluminum tubing. Thus, my axel is one long piece of tubing that runs through the frame from one side to the other with enough excess on each side for these wheels. Removable pins keep them from coming off.
This is how the umbrella stays in place. I used a piece of PVC pipe that is screwed to the frame. When we used it on the beach, the pole stuck in the sand acted as a brake as well.
These are the front wheels I made for the chair. They are constructed out of PVC and swivel like normal dolly wheels. They also detach from the frame with removable pins to make packing easier. There are easier ways to accomplish this and there are now dolly versions of the Wheeleez wheels now that can be mounted . But they are not cheap. So, I made these.
This is the detached front wheel. The aluminum tubing inserts into the frame and gives the connection more strength. I found that a 1" coupling fits well into a 1 1/4" coupling or fitting and can spin freely. Using this, I was able to mesh 1" and 1 1/4" fittings to make the dollies spin 360 degrees. The tires here are pneumatic wheels made for hand trucks or garden wagons. I had to use a smaller 1/2" pipe for an axel that could fit inside PVC pipe. Thus, I used an elbow fitting that reduced from 1" to 1/2" at the wheel. This whole assembly should be reinforced with 1" aluminum tubing inside above the 45 degree elbow.
Overall, this chair worked well for us. Macayla really relaxed in it and even fell asleep in it every time we used it. It made it very easy to mover her around the beach.
