Cub back in the horse float business

Sydney's Cub Campers is turning back the clock, with the recent release of a new Cub Classic horse float that shares a similar design to the original Cub horse floats that were produced by the family business around 40 years ago.

Before it became one of the biggest sellers of locally-made camper trailers in Australia, Cub built a variety of horse floats along with basic box trailers.

“We used to manufacture horse floats and sell them to buyers in Western Queensland," Cub co-founder Roger Fagan recalled during the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2018.

"The roads there were very rugged with lots of corrugations – so we had to strengthen the chassis and suspension to make sure it could cope with the conditions. We then adapted that design to suit our camper trailers.”

Cub says the new 2023 Classic model that's built alongside its campers at Cub's Sydney factory is a "good quality, reliable, simple to use horse float from Cub, perfect for the demands of regional riders and horse people".

Priced from $19,990, standard features of the all-steel, 930kg Tare/2000kg ATM trailer include roller rocker leaf spring suspension, electric brakes and Goodyear tyres on 15in steel wheels, along with an alloy stone guard, Australian hard wood floor, head divider, padded centre divider, padded chest bars and a rubber floor mat.

"Designed and built by three generations of active horse lovers, the Classic is designed to elevate you and your horses travelling experience with rugged suspension seamlessly combining with the tough, Australian-made quality Cub is renowned for," the 55-year-old Sydney manufacturer said.

As well as three exterior colour options, including classic pink, the Cub Classic is also available as a 55 Year Anniversary limited edition model, complete with engraved anniversary plaque.

"Cub’s modern day Classic horse float is a return to familiar territory, taking our original concept and improving it with contemporary design and manufacturing. The result is an instant classic," the company said.

While the Classic horse float currently costs $5000 less than Cub's cheapest Week-ender camper trailer, it's unlikely many outdoor enthusiasts will consider turning one into a camper-mobile, as this West Australian brother and sister did with a tired old horse float.