Latest wheelchair-accessible powerboat launches at SIBS 2021

National charity, The Wheelyboat Trust, which helps to get thousands of wheelchair users out enjoying the UK’s inshore waters, lakes, rivers, and canals every year, will be one of the exhibitors at the Southampton International Boat Show 2021.

The Coulam V17 Wheelyboat will be on display – this boat can reach speeds of 40mph – and the show will also see the launch of the new Coulam V29 Centre Console that has been specially designed for superior accessibility. The large deck provides wheelchair users with access to all parts of the boat, and the electric winch on the bow door can be operated remotely, enabling the user to be completely independent.

The Trust will be located in berth M701 in the Marina Village.

Since 1984, The Wheelyboat Trust has provided over 200 wheelchair-accessible boats called Wheelyboats to sailability groups, sailing clubs, outdoor activity centres, SEN schools, fisheries and other organisations across the UK and Europe.

Each Wheelyboat has roll-on, roll-off access, enabling anyone in a wheelchair to board the boat safely and independently, and a drive-from-wheelchair helm. This newfound freedom allows anyone with a mobility impairment to participate in outdoor, water-based activities alongside family and friends, with huge benefits to their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

In the last 18 months alone, the Trust has supplied 16 Wheelyboat projects all over the UK including angling clubs in the Outer Hebrides and Fife, watersports providers in Counties Armagh, Tyrone, Norfolk and Derbyshire, and fisheries in Gwynedd, Norfolk, Somerset and Northamptonshire.

Andy Beadsley, director of The Wheelyboat Trust, and his team will be available at the show to talk to anyone interested in finding out more about the charity’s work and the invaluable role it plays helping groups and organisations acquire Wheelyboats.

Coulam Wheelyboat V20. Image courtesy of Emily Whitling.