Floating Beach Wheelchairs

How they work

A floating beach wheelchair does two jobs that an ordinary wheelchair cannot. On the beach, wide, low-pressure tires make it easier to push over soft sand ^[1][6][7]. At the water's edge it keeps going: buoyant parts, usually the armrests and the wheels, hold the chair and its seated user at the surface, so a person who cannot walk can float in the sea or a lake without leaving the chair ^[1][8][10]. The chairs described here have no motor. Most are pushed by a companion, who also stays alongside in the water ^[1][8][10].

The makers stress the limits. Deschamps states that the Mobi-Chair is not a boat ^[1]. Its product page says the chair belongs in calm, sheltered water near the shore, not in waves, strong currents or tides, that an able-bodied companion must be present at all times, and that a life jacket is advised ^[1]. AccessRec asks users to check with a lifeguard that the weather and water suit the chair, and to use it only with an able-bodied helper close by ^[8].

Main models and makers

The Mobi-Chair is made by the French firm Deschamps, based at La Couronne, which dates its origins to 1860 and also makes the Mobi-Mat roll-out beach mat ^[2][4]. Its US arm, Deschamps Mats Systems in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, dates the chair's creation to 2009 ^[3][4]. In the maker's figures it has an aluminum frame with a stainless steel fork, weighs 60 lb (27 kg) and has a maximum load of 300 lb (136 kg) ^[1]. It runs on three low-pressure wheels, a 12 by 6 in (30 by 16 cm) wheel in front and two 16 by 7 in (40 by 19 cm) wheels behind, and has molded plastic floating armrests with handles, a backrest with three positions and a safety harness ^[1]. Deschamps says it goes together without tools in about 10 minutes, and that more than 1,000 are in use around the world ^[1][2].

The Hippocampe comes from Vipamat, founded in 2002 and based at Ploemeur, France; its founders included Patrice Faucogney, who became paraplegic after a snowboarding accident in 1996, and the physiotherapist Vincent Leroy ^[5][6]. They set out to design a chair for getting onto the beach and into the water, and the company says its 3,000th Hippocampe was made in 2011 ^[5]. Vipamat's brochure describes an all-terrain chair that crosses sand and pebbles, floats on water and, with ski kits, slides over snow; the user can push its double rear wheels or a helper can use a push bar, and balloon wheels are an option ^[6]. The brochure lists four sizes and a safe working load of 130 kg (287 lb), and the frame is aluminum treated against seawater ^[6][7].

WaterWheels is a brand of AccessRec, also of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, which says the chair has been produced with the Taiwanese company Sunny Castors since 2006 ^[8]. It is a three-wheeled chair made of six parts, the frame, two armrests and three large wheels, and it floats on its armrests and tires while the user sits reclined ^[8]. AccessRec says the design passed the RESNA WC-1:2009 wheelchair tests at an independent US laboratory in October 2014 ^[8].

Where they can be borrowed

A number of public beaches lend these chairs free of charge. In October 2010 Sarasota County Parks and Recreation in Florida introduced free floating wheelchairs, marketed by the company that also markets the Mobi-Mat, at Siesta, Lido, Nokomis, Venice and Manasota beaches, with no advance registration ^[9]. Corpus Christi, Texas, lends free beach wheelchairs that go onto the sand and into the surf at three city beaches while lifeguards are on duty ^[11]. The National Park Service's loan list, as updated in October 2026, names 22 park units that lend beach wheelchairs, among them Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which lends them free at its visitor centers and, in summer, at lifeguarded beaches ^[14][15]. The park pages consulted do not say whether those chairs float, though Indiana Dunes National Park describes its WHEELEZ chair as able to enter the water ^[15][16].

In Canada, Greater Sudbury lends a Mobi-chair at Bell Park Main Beach on Ramsey Lake in summer at no charge, in 1.5-hour sessions while lifeguards are on duty; an attendant must stay with the user during transfers and in the water ^[10]. Barcelona runs an assisted bathing service at several city beaches in summer, with amphibious chairs and other bathing aids and a bathing officer at each point ^[12]. In Australia, the City of Greater Geelong gave a MobiChair to the Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club in 2025 for free community use, and the Ocean Grove Disabled Surfers Association donated life jackets ^[13].

Photos

Related entries

• Amphibious Bicycles and TricyclesUnusual and experimental · 1869 to present
• How amphibious vehicles workHow it works ·