Full review

Motorhomes aren’t just for holidaying. They are great if you have a hobby that requires lugging around heavy gear too.

Newly established van converter RP Sporthomes intends to include a sizeable garage in every ’van it produces to serve such a purpose.

The company’s first model, the Explorer GT4, also has an innovative enough layout to interest even those with no penchant for extreme sports.

There’s nothing striking about the nearly all-white exterior, nor about the cab, even with specially branded cab seats. There’s a standard half-dinette, too.

Things start getting different when you notice the domestic-style radiator along the offside wall of the lounge. The lounge can seat four, although TV watching is only possible from the cab seats.

The design becomes really unusual further back from here. The kitchen is transverse, separated from the front dinette by a partition that holds an apothecary shelf and a sizeable pop-up worktop.

In this kitchen you will also find a three-burner hob and Thetford Triplex oven and grill and a domestic-sized sink set into a Corian worktop. The tiny 50-litre Waeco fridge set above this includes a mirror because the sink doubles up as a washbasin.

Removing the need for a second basin means you get a shower next door that is close to domestic size, even if there is only one drain hole. The shower room also comes with an electrically heated mirror.

The rear lounge behind this has two side-facing seats that extend to become the bottom of two single bunks across the back, although assembling the top bunk is a tricky two-person job. Neither of these bunks is really adult-sized, but then the front double bed is a bit of a squeeze too.

Still, the back bedroom includes a small wardrobe, another cupboard, and a TV.

Between the seats, you can access that rear garage. This houses the ladder for the top bunk and an inverter. It also has space for a Porta Potti, which means you could turn this area into a separate loo.

Unusually there are three LED awning lights along the nearside of the ’van. And the bracket of the TV in the back has been designed so that you can manoeuvre the TV outside.

This is an abridged version of the full review appearing in the April 2016 issue of What Motorhome.