
Garrett Monti, a longtime St. Charles Parish resident, opened SHERP of Louisiana in Luling about six months ago.
“I was looking for something a little more fun to do,” Monti said.
Monti has owned and operated Quality Cleaning Equipment and Supply in Luling for 38 years.
“You take a street sweeper out for a demo and that’s one thing, but when you take the SHERP out for a demo, you make a whole day of it,” Monti said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
The SHERP is an amphibious all-terrain vehicle that can drive through dense swamps, muddy wetlands, flooded areas and off-road trails, according to the company’s website.
“Wherever you want to take it, it will take you there,” Monti said.
Monti said SHERP is a great highwater vehicle, which is needed in Louisiana. The SHERP can get to places that are generally inaccessible, Monti said.
“For marine surveyors, utility construction, search and rescue, it can float on water, go through marsh, mud, rock, mountain and snow,” he said. “This will climb over a downed tree – nothing is going to stop it.”
The SHERP’s tires inflate using engine exhaust, Monti said. The driver can change the pressure in the tires from the cab in 90 seconds.
“When you’re on the road, you have the tires at one level,” Monti said. “When you’re in a swampy or soft terrain, you deflate the tires with a switch.”
With a diesel engine, the SHERP does not go fast but has a lot of power, Monti said.
“The SHERP is like the Swiss army knife,” Monti said. “There are probably vehicles that can do certain things better, but the SHERP is a different tool in the box.”
Monti said the SHERP could be helpful after hurricanes and other natural disasters. He said officials in Hillsborough County, Fla. used SHERP vehicles to rescue stranded people from their homes after flooding from Hurricane Milton last October.
When St. Charles Parish experienced historic snowfall last week, Monti offered the SHERP to parish officials.
“I think where [parish officials] really saw it potentially applying was getting to critical infrastructure that was damaged,” Monti said. “With the roads iced up, the pickup trucks couldn’t get there, but the SHERP would have gotten them there.”