SHADOW PLAY

THIS PREMIUM 270-DEGREE AWNING FROM ALU-CAB BRINGS CLEVER DESIGN, QUALITY MATERIALS AND EASY ONE-PERSON OPERATION TO REMOTE-AREA TOURING

- WORDS AND PHOTOS KEV SMITH

With so many products and variants of those products on the market, it can get pretty overwhelming selecting what's right for you in terms of durability, price point and ease of use.

Take the simple 4x4 awning. They’re all the same, right? Bolt them on, unzip the cover and extend them out. Well, in that respect they are, but when it comes to quality, it’s the finer details that separate the good from the bad.

South African-based Alu-Cab offers a high-end freestanding 270-degree awning. Called the Shadow, it’s packed with features. It provides a huge 10m² of shade made from a polyester-based cloth impregnated with an acrylic-based resin.

A lot of awnings out there today are full polyester to keep the weight down, but after a few years the UV material wears thin, making the awning and its protection useless.