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New to the Forum
Hi everyone and thank you for allowing my wife Corrie and I to join the forum.
My name is Walter and although we have not been a regular caravanners, we spent a lot of time camping in a dome tent. Well it was time for us to upgrade as pitching a tent tended to be more strenuous as time went by and we have decided to swop stretchers for a queen size mattress.
As we are both retired, we have decided to start touring our beautiful country towing a caravan instead of using &B's. Our combination is a little strange as we are towing an off-road trailer with a SUV. It will be a 2.0 Tdci Ford Kuga AWD towing a Afrispoor Cheetah.
The reason we went with an off roader was that we would still like to reach a few gravel road venues and that we wanted to be sure that we could travel some badly potholed roads that we often encounter.
We look forward to getting some great advice from the members of the forum and hope to meet some of you on our travels.
Hi Walter and Corrie, welcome! We'll be in your shoes in just over three years time. Keep an eye out for Brian B and George who move around from place to place. They are both on this forum.
Hi Walter and Corrie welcome to the forum. Keep us posted on the places you visit and feel free to ask questions there are many experienced campers on the forum who will gladly offer advice where ever they can.
Enjoy your travels and be safe.
Walter, welcome to you. Fred that is also active on the forum, will be able to provide more feedback on your towing vehicle as he also had a similar car.
Sê dankie vir wat jy in die lewe het.
Good idea Walter. I am sure this will be an adventure you will thoroughly enjoy. I don't know the van you are going to use but on internet it looks very capable. I also could not find its weight but it looks quite heavy. We had a similiar Kuga until about six months ago and found it a super car on its own and towing. We originally towed a 1984 Sprite Supersport very easily and our present superlight Skipper Oyster obviously was well within its capabilities. By law you are allowed to tow a van with a loaded weight of not more than 100% of you tow vehicle's licenced weight. Traffic officials do nor often pull off a rig to weigh it- we never had this experience- but apparently it does sometimes happen. Our Kuga was licenced at about 1300Kg although the real mass according to Ford, was more than 1600Kg. This might be a legal problem for you as your van may be over 1300 Kg loaded, but I would not worry too much about this. If it does worry you, the solution will be to have it weighed and reregistered at the correct weight.
Enjoy your adventure and keep us informed, we love to live the adventures with our brothers and sisters in camping.
Het is beter rijk te leven dan rijk te sterven
Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone,
@Fred
The Cheetah is a little heavy as it weighs in at 1100kg unloaded. Add to that it's 100L onboard water tank, gives me very little leeway to load. But as the van has all the basics (Including the kitchen sink) we basically only need our clothing, bedding and food.
We will be doing little stays at our local camping spot which is only 20km from home in order to determine what we need to camp comfortably without having to overload the van.
Once we have a better understanding of our Van and towing capabilities of the Kuga, we will venture out further and for longer durations..
Welcome Walter and Corrie, enjoy the adventures.
Living the dream

Welkom en kamp n hond uit n bos
Haak daai wa kamp bly koning
Welcome Walter and Corrie. Enjoy your camping. We have been touring and camping for almost 5 years now and can not get enough. We are in Pilanesberg now for 14 days until the 21st. Then to Cape Town by airline for 7 days then back and on to Moz and Zim for don’t know how long.
Enjoy!
Groete,
Paul
Thank you, Paul,
I have not done any research regarding over border travel yet and do not believe that my tow vehicle is capable of some of the tough sand roads in Botswana and perhaps even in Mozambique.
Looking at the pictures in some of the signatures on the threads, some of you have really awesome Vans. Truly a home from home. It will take us a few trips before we are set-up to be self-sufficient for extended periods.
But our ultimate goal is to spend more time camping than at home. After all, we do have a beautiful country. The greatest challenge would be to choose camping sites very carefully. I will be relying on the ratings of campsites posted on Caravanparks.com for guidance in this regard.
@ Bostoe
Ek sien jy is ook van Secunda af en die Naam lyk nogal bekend van die 4x4 forum af. Selvde persoon?
Die Kuga is beslis nie 'n 4X4 nie, dit het nie laestrek nie en die grondvryhoogte, veral voor, is heeltemal te min. Ons het heelwat goeie grondpaaie met ons Kuga gesleep en daarvoor is hy heel geskik, ook vir die toevallige sandkolle. Ek hou van grondpaaie want dit voel vir my of die omgewing nie al 'opgekyk' is nie Op gewone sand waar daar nie ernstige middelmannetjies is nie en waar laestrek nie nodig is nie, meen ek hy sal enige plek kan gaan waar 'n regte 4X4 kan ry. Ons twee karavane was/is beide heelwat ligter as jou wa, so hy sal dalk effens moeiliker in diep sand vaar. Maar die geheim is om nie jou voertuig se vermoë te probeer toets nie, aanvaar dis 'n 2X4 wat effense moeiliker paaie kan aandurf.
Het is beter rijk te leven dan rijk te sterven
Ek het n paar jaar terug n Wrangler besit en ons het hom so mooi ingerug dat ons agter uit hom kon leef in die veld.
Ek stem saam dat die Kuga well net n softroader is, Maar as hy my by Hondeklip Baai kan inkry, en die grond passe daar doer onder in die Kaap kan ry, dan sal ek gelukkig wees.
Walter, Ek vermoed jy het redelik onlangs jou Kuga gekry. Ek het myne laat verlede jaar aan Webuycars verkoop. Enige kans dat jy dalk joune by hulle gekoop het? As dit dalk die geval is dat dit myne was, sou ek graag met jou wou gesels. Myne was 'n donkergrys 2014 TDCI Trent.
Het is beter rijk te leven dan rijk te sterven
More Fred,
Ek het myne vanaf 2014 en dit is die titanium in n donker blou.
Ek het net die 20 duim wiele afgehaal en geruil met 18 duim om meer rubber tussen dir rim en teer te kry.
Ek kry nou eers Dinsdag my woonwa in Newcastle, dan sal ek n foto van die wa en kar plaas.
Daar is n geseg wat se "If there are no photo's, it did not happen.
Ek hoop joune het n goeie huis gekry.
Dankie Walter. Die persoon wat myne gekry het, het n goeie voertuig gekry. Ek sou graag met hom wou praat.
Het is beter rijk te leven dan rijk te sterven

@ Bostoe
Ek sien jy is ook van Secunda af en die Naam lyk nogal bekend van die 4x4 forum af. Selvde persoon?

Jip jy is reg
Haak daai wa kamp bly koning

Hi everyone and thank you for allowing my wife Corrie and I to join the forum.
My name is Walter and although we have not been a regular caravanners, we spent a lot of time camping in a dome tent. Well it was time for us to upgrade as pitching a tent tended to be more strenuous as time went by and we have decided to swop stretchers for a queen size mattress.
As we are both retired, we have decided to start touring our beautiful country towing a caravan instead of using &B's. Our combination is a little strange as we are towing an off-road trailer with a SUV. It will be a 2.0 Tdci Ford Kuga AWD towing a Afrispoor Cheetah.
The reason we went with an off roader was that we would still like to reach a few gravel road venues and that we wanted to be sure that we could travel some badly potholed roads that we often encounter.
We look forward to getting some great advice from the members of the forum and hope to meet some of you on our travels.

Hi there Walter and Corrie, welcome on the forum.
Hope you enjoy the caravan and camping on bit of some luxury. Yes as we also started of with a 4 man tent and over the years we stepped up to a caravan and today we are also retired and we still go camping with the Jurgens Fleetline. We did the hole of the Cape Province from the North down to the South and East to West. With different camping equipment.
These days we can't travel to far as we are getting to the point of checking our inkom as we gave house and animals. We joined the ATKV in KZN (Drakebsville) and we frequent them as it is not to far to travel and the expenditure is within our budget to travel twice a year out season time. We are happy to visit this site and it is very cheap and there is alot of facilities and the service is excellent and friendly people.
Have great traveling and keep safe on the roads.
Hi there fellow camper, enjoy camping.
When you leave just leave your foot prints and nothing other than a clean site as you found it.

I got my caravan on Saturday and spent the morning setting it up and testing all the equipment. Total setup time for us was 30 minutes but I am sure that it could improve with practice. Breakdown time was a little longer at 45 minutes as we struggled a little where the bed tent meets the roof, but once we worked out the procedure, it was pretty easy. Lacking in the tallness department, I will be needing a three-step ladder to make my life a little easier.
The aircon is simply awesome but cannot be used during off grid camping as it needs an external AC supply. Shower water was great and hot, and the pressure was ample. The geyser can luckily be used off grid as it is a gas/electrical unit. Lighting is adequate both inside and out.
I had a little difficulty with the taillights, but this was sorted by adding an earth wire from the trailer plug to the van's chassis. My car has a terrible habit of beeping when there is a fault on the trailer wiring.
I was a little worried regarding the actual combination of the Kuga and Cheetah, but now feel confident that I will not have any problems. I do feel the van when pulling away, but once on the go it feels very stable. 100km\h on the highway was a breeze with plenty of reserve available. 80km\h felt very comfortable on narrower roads. 60km\h in town however felt a little bumpy but acceptable.
I did first drive off my sons well maintained lawn without releasing the handbrake (Rookie mistake). I drove for about a meter and first thought that I would be needing a bigger car. After releasing the brake, everything went well but my son no longer has a well-maintained lawn.
Rear view through the standard side mirrors is in fact very good. If a car does not tailgate me, I will see him clearly.
I will need Ewik movers as my wife and I battle to align the ball and socket when I do not put the ball directly beneath cup. I will also source a 200w portable solar panel to keep the batteries happy when camping off grid.
I thought that I may require air helpers, but it seems that the Kuga is up to the challenge. It may be that the Kuga has stiffer springs as it has the added tow pack.
For now, I am quite happy and will start to plan our first trip.
Sounds good to go Walter ððð
Sorry I am late but hearty welcome to you both. I surely hope that you have thousands of joy full KM's towing the van.
Go for GOLD.
GOD IS ALTYD TEENWOORDIG
Sonder Jesus is ek niks! ! ! !
