NEWS

The off-road camping vehicle manufacturer TuffCats recently sold its 20th trailer. The owner, Gerrie Nel (No, not that Gerrie Nel – Ed), bought an off-road trailer in 2012 from an existing manufacturer, but he wasn’t satisfied with the weight of the trailer. He decided to build his own, but shortly afterwards a friend bought it from him. After building and subsequently selling another three to satisfied friends, Gerrie saw a business opportunity. This led to the establishment of TuffCats. Today, customers can choose between a standard offroad caravan, a smaller version of this, and an off-road camping trailer – all with aluminium body and frame fitted onto a galvanised chassis. The three models are called the Mdaba (the off-road trailer), Shumba Cub (the smaller offroad caravan), and Shumba (the standard off-road caravan). The names are all Shona words and translate to leopard and lion respectively. The Mdaba’s Cub model is about half a metre shorter than the standard caravan. The outside kitchen is almost the same, and where the Cub’s door is at the back, the standard model’s is in the left-hand side panel. Both are available with one or two beds – in the standard caravan these fold out of the right-hand side panel. The second bed opens up over the A-frame. The vehicles are equipped with items like a water tank (with a pump), a gas geyser, one deepcycle battery, an awning over the kitchen area, a two-plate stove and crockery like cups, glasses and plates (six of each). One of the Shumba’s more unique features is the outside shower that unfolds right next to the fold-out bed. A square door with hinges fastened to the roof swings upwards and is propped up by a gas lift. And then there’s a canvas cubicle that folds out below the door to the ground. The figures Mdaba R148 200 (tare ± 780 kg, GVM 1 600 kg); Shumba Cub R222 300 (tare 880 kg, GVM 1 600 kg); Shumba R239 400 (tare 920 kg, GVM 1 600 kg). Contact 082 301 2393; gerrie@tuffcats.co.za; tuffcats.co.za