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Mobility Management

Details of how I made Avril mobile

The Situation:
My wife, Avril, has a number of problems, but it is those associated with damage to her spine and arthritis which affect her ability to walk any distance. 
She also has had a problem with her balance for many years, which has resulted in a number of falls. 
All of these meant that a wheelchair of some sort was needed if she was to be able to 'get out and about' rather than become relatively housebound.

Current State
If you read all below, you will know that we have solved Avril's mobility problem. 
Not only hers, but mine!   We recently went on a holiday around France and Spain, and the 'Buddy Board' enabled us not only to explore the ports we visited, but also allowed me to ride behind Avril on the long journeys from aft to for'ard of the 345 metres long cruise ship Arvia on which we sailed.  Without the board, our holiday would have been a lot less successful.

First Solution
Rascal Mobility Scooter

After some searching on E-Bay, I found a Rascal scooter similar to the one shown for a reasonable price, although it did involve quite a trip to collect it. 

It broke down into separate parts to load into my car boot, and although each item was no lightweight, I could just about manage if I took my time.

Although the scooter took care of Avril, as I do not walk too well myself, I got an electric scooter so I could keep up with her.   The fact that they are illegal was a little problem! 

Although Avril was initially fairly OK with driving the scooter, her confidence was shattered when she tipped over on the sloping cobbled path leading to our church.   Problems with her spine also meant that steering with the handlebars was quite a strain.

We realised that the purchase had focussed us on what was really needed, so decided to go for a more suitable chair.   This one went back on E-Bay, and sold for about the same as we paid for it!

Seond Solution
Dashi Foldable wheelchair

We visited a local mobilty shop and looked at the different models available, before deciding on the Dashi.   It would fold up nicely to fit into my car boot, so that was a good feature, although the seat cushion had to be removed before folding.  When putting it in the car, I would temporarily place the cushion on the car roof, and on a couple of occasions forgot it and lost it when I drove off, so had to get a replacement.

Although I could lift the folded chair into the boot, it was rather a strain, so I had a little crane lift fitted, which made life a lot easier, and was worth the money!  However, while the chair was unused for a while I let the Lithium Ion battery run down until it could not be resurrected, so had to buy another for £335 - Ouch!


Avril found the chair quite comfortable, but began to  have problems with steering using the joystick.   One of the drawbacks of this type of chair which is steered by the powered rear wheels is that the front ones are on castors, and tend to take up a random position whenever the chair stops, or someone sits down in it.  So, when beginning to move, the chair does not always start off in the expected direction, and over-compensation with the joystick can panic the driver into thinking they do not have proper control.  Avril was not happy with this, and increasing effects of  arthritis in her hands meant she could not really hold the joystick properly.   Something had to be done! 

Modifications begin
Don takes control

The joystick control could be fitted to either the left or right armrest, so the cable was long enough for me to fit it at the back of the chair.   The top rear rail was rather low so I added a wooden bar to the top and attached the controller to that so I did not have to stoop too much to 'drive' the chair when walking behind.   This worked reasonably well, although the speed choices meant I would either have to walk rather too slowly or a little too fast for comfort to match the chair.

Walking behind the chair, without having to push it was no effort, but I obviously could not use my electric scooter, so as my poor old legs did rather complain, something else was needed.

Modifications number 2
Don gets a buddy

Well, actually a 'Buddy Board'.  These are often used with childrens' wheelchairs for a toddler to ride on whilst the baby is in the chair.  I found a video on YouTube of an adult riding with a wheelchair and wondered if I could do something similar.  After much searching I came across Travelscoot who sold a board suitable for their own mobilty scooter.   I purchased one, and adapted it to fit the Dashi.   I was then able to ride with Avril whilst she left the steering to me.

We took the chair on holiday to a hotel in Wales where we had previously stayed and Avril was keen to ride along the path in front of the dunes in the golf course that we could see from our window.   Unfortunately, part of the way was sandy, so the chair bogged down, and even after extrication, the path itself was covered in gravel, and full of little hills. In the handbook for the chair, it advised that both these obstacles were to be avoided or damage could occur.  We proved this to be the case, as the chair gave up just before we got back to the start, and refused to move under power so I had to push it back to the car.

When I was able to drive, I did find it rather difficult to keep the joystick steady whilst holding on to the wooden extension on the back of the chair and standing on the buddy board, although I felt I probably would have got more relaxed with practice.

I took the chair to the shop where we purchased it for them to try to repair it, and they came back saying the fault could be the Controller (£230) or the motors (£400), and there would be fitting charges at £40 per hour.    This made me think about the fact that even if repaired, I was probably asking too much of this lightweight chair and might damage it again. Also I was not completely comfortable when driving so started looking for more suitable alternatives.

Third Solution
Rascal 'WeGo' 250

Another saga of searching on the 'net revealed a video of someone demonstrating the Rascal WeGo  Powerchair.   As I watched I realised that with regard to controlling the chair, this was the correct design for our situation.   If I could attach the buddy board, it would be ideal.

The only disadvantage was that this was a more robust design with fairly heavy units which had to be assembled together.   Lifting these in and out of my car boot did not appeal, but on examining the video closely I realised that it might be possible to keep the heavy base units and battery attached together.  I could then put this whole assembly into the car boot in one piece using the lift I had for the Dashi.

Back to Ebay, where I eventually found a WeGo for which my offer of what it would cost to repair the Dashi  was accepted.   Although it was another long trip to collect it, I was able to remove the lifting attachment bolts from the Dashi and fit them to the WeGo without any problems.

Attaching the brackets for the ball and socket fitting for the buddy board was a little more difficult, and I did have a few problems attaching a support for the steering column.  I did not want to overstrain its attachment to the chassis when I was being pulled along with the chair, but it probably another case of my being over careful. We went for a proper test ride along the front at Burnham-on-Sea, and Avril was very pleased and said that she felt very secure and comfortable, to a degree that had rather been missing on previous trips.  I also found 'driving' to be quite easy, and was pleased that we could actually overtake other walkers if we wished.

Click on this video on YouTube to see the chair in action .