At the Overland Expo I had a chance to really look over just about every option for a new rig there is to dream about. However it was Andy T. who was cool beyond belief when he offered me a chance to drive his rig on the demo course. This was a perfect opportunity to see how much interior room is available, how stable the rigs are and how the diesel engine and Atlas transfer case work together.
Once the choice is made it is a only a matter of money, right? Well from Alan at Sportsmobile West I learned some pretty cool things, one was that the rigs are RV's and thus qualify for longer term financing, two they often qualify for a second home tax deduction or in the case of Disabled Explorers as a business expense and lastly as an RV insurance is often cheaper. All of these facts combined help me work out the numbers, for while we will seek out sponsorship from many of the component makers and Sportsmobile West is assisting us, in the end I am personally responsible for covering the project cost.
Part of the fun of working on a custom rig like this is making your choices and then changing your mind. SMB is well versed in this process as can be seen by the number of pre-planned layouts they offer. But even better is their DYO online tool that is very valuable to the disabled community. Because there are so many different mobility issues in the world it really helps to be able to change the floor plan for a wheelchair user or a upper limb amputee or someone who just can't bend over easily. In our case I wanted something that would work across a wide range of users. The front seats will swivel and allow easy transfer from wheelchair The 3rd seat is removable with wheelchair tie-downs so we can secure someone in place who must stay in their chair and the sideways gaucho sofa allows access to the rear of the rig without having to exit. I also opted for a large bay window by the 3rd seat and long windows along the side to allow maximum visibility during trail time.
