grass bowling rollator
All rollators come with skinny tyres and cannot be used on grass bowling lawns which specify wide wheels >90mm. However these are uncommon and can be expensive. The exception being dinghy launching trolley wheels -made from plastic, costing ~£8 each . The downside -they are quite heavy and require a 1″ diameter axle. Rollators are fitted with 8mm axle rods are not robust enough to take the heavy wide wheels and extensive modifications are necessary to adapt these wheels to fit..
The solution
- The rear wheels were removed and the ends of the rear arms plugged with a hard wood dowel (machined on wood turning lathe) to a depth of ~2″ , then the existing 8mm axle aperture re- drilled to 10mm .
- Four pairs of sleeves were turned in hard wood – o/d: 1″ & i/d: 10mm and fitted to the four wheels.
- 10mm studding was used for the rear wheel axles & wheels secured with lock nuts so they rotated freely.
- The brake assemblies were relocated further up the rear arms so the brakes were operative again.
- The original front wheel forks were removed and new ones fabricated from 30mm wide x 4mm thick mild steel . The ends of the arms were drilled to take 10mm studding axles and a 12mm hole drilled in the centre of the fork . The forks were connected up to the original seating using long 12mm bolts with lock nuts , which allowed the front wheels to swivel. Note: the forks were angled as this facilitated rotation of the wide wheels.
The benefit
The resulting rollator was acceptable to the clients grass bowling club and was much admired ! She quickly became a proficient player and started to attend away matches when she decided to upgrade to a lighter chassis, so she could load it into her car without assistance. The modifications were simply switched over to the new lighter chassis and her old one recycled for further use. As can be seen from the photo , Bertha’s owner is a thoroughly happy soul and is delighted with the new opportunities provided by the modified rollator and her life can now be described as being on a roll! .
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Dear Bill, we can supply a Bowls Green Rollator: see :https://www.bushhillbowls.co.uk/store/royce-rollator
Kind regards,
Jerry,
Bush Hill Bowls
Hi I have a leg problem that stops me playing indoor bowls ,is there a wide wheel rollator suitable for indoor carpet play,
Dear Sirs,’
When watching the Para Bowls this week I noticed one player with a rollator with a seat
I have played lawn bowls for many years until May 2019.
Unfortunately I now have several health problems which has caused stamina and breathing issues.
I still belong to our Bowls Club and would love to play lawn bowls again before I depart – I am 86
I use a rollator – with a seat – but the wheels are too narrow to use on the green. I cannot find a Bowls version on the internet. I need the seat to rest at each end so that I can complete a match,
I do this in shortmat where there a chairs at each end
I would like to hire a bowls rollator to see if I can manage to complete a match. If I am not able to hire one then I would buy one
I would be grateful for your advice
Regards
Bill Bevan