The Waterbug: Adaptive Paddle Board Frame

People with disabilities, particularly wheelchair users, face limitations in participating in outdoor activities like paddleboarding. Central Cal Adaptive, a nonprofit organization, aims to bridge this gap by offering adapted paddleboarding experiences. However, their current paddleboard presents challenges such as portability, range of motion, stability, and safety. Our team, comprising Madeline Evenson, Remy Lacchia, Katie Kellum, and Shelbi Sullaway, has collaborated with Central Cal Adaptive to refine the existing paddleboard design. The team’s goal is to enhance the paddleboard's functionality to better cater to wheelchair users' needs, ensuring lightweight, portable, and safe features for an improved outdoor experience. Our paddleboard concept design consists of four different parts. The outriggers attached to our main frame connect to four separate pontoons. The securing mechanism will attach the frame to the paddleboard; this consists of two clamp-like features that will grip the sides of the board and connect by a ratchet strap. The guiderails ensure that the wheelchair and user’s center of mass remain consistent with the board’s center of mass. Attached to the guiderails is a rotational seat component that will allow for the user to attach a seat so that they may be sitting at board level. The final component is the ramp system, which is a 6ft standard wheelchair ramp, which has a lip that sits securely over the frame for wheelchair transfer.