Re: Back Wheels First (Warning, long post!)
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:08 am
I believe they are required to use the ramp but it seems some Friendship CMs are to lazy to do so and unlike at The Land where there are managers and coordinators around the only CMs on the docks usually are the ones operating the boat so nobody is there to make sure they load the handicapped correctly and to discipline them if they don't.
The Friendships are free-floating vessels and the handicapped should never be loaded without the ramp due to the gap, the height difference, and the fact the boat may move up and down. At The Land the boats are on a belt which prevents the boat from moving at all and is an enclosed waterway while the Friendships are on rivers and canals where there may be wake from other boats and where the water level changes. The ramp compensates for any movement of the boat and for any gaps or height differences.
The Friendships are free-floating vessels and the handicapped should never be loaded without the ramp due to the gap, the height difference, and the fact the boat may move up and down. At The Land the boats are on a belt which prevents the boat from moving at all and is an enclosed waterway while the Friendships are on rivers and canals where there may be wake from other boats and where the water level changes. The ramp compensates for any movement of the boat and for any gaps or height differences.