Explorer Motorhomes is a boutique motorhome manufacturer located at Clontarf, north of Brisbane. The company’s speciality is motorhomes that are based on light commercial cabchassis, using either a Toyota HiLux or a Ford Ranger built with a fully moulded motorhome body.

With this latest Explorer Vision motorhome, it’s built on a Ford Ranger XL 4X4 cab-chassis. Apart from anything else, that means it comes with a 3.2-litre turbo 147kw/470Nm diesel engine and a six-speed fully automatic gearbox. A smaller, 2.2-litre 118kW/385Nm turbo-diesel is available but in the four-wheel-drive version that is only available with a manual gearbox. Although the power output might be less of an issue for some, for serious off-road travel, there’s nothing like plenty of kilowatts under the accelerator.

An important item to note with the Ranger chassis is that it’s been legally modified to increase the GVM from 3200kg to 3500kg. The suspension modification includes new rear springs, rear shock absorbers, front struts and front shock absorbers.

As noted above, the Vision body is fully-moulded fi breglass – that one piece moulding giving the advantages of a good strength to weight ratio, as well as a seamless body, thus minimising water leaks. Windows are Dometic/Seitz acrylics and the Camec door has a separate security screen.

Smaller motorhomes like this often have limited external bin capacity but the Vision isn’t too badly off with two bins at the rear left hand corner. At the rear wall, the cassette toilet has an SOG ventilation system and along the right-hand side, the gas bin contains two 4kg cylinders.

ON THE ROAD

A feature of the smaller cab-chassis motorhomes are the sometimes poor road handling characteristics caused by the relatively high height of the motorhome, compared to the chassis. A mixture of freeway driving and forest bush tracks not only demonstrated the turbo-diesel engine power but also the improvements that the suspension modifications made to the general vehicle handling. So it’s not only a load capacity increase that happens but a better handling vehicle as well. Certainly on the bush tracks, the 4X4 Ranger proved itself to be a very capable vehicle and being only 2.18m (7ft 2in) wide makes it ideal for narrow roads.

One of the options fitted to our review Explorer were the Clearview  extending external mirrors. Normally fitted to a caravan tow vehicle, they work equally well here, and can be retracted when parking in tight situations and could almost be considered a non-option, option.

THE INTERIOR

A rear door gives access to the Vision and that allows for one of the unique features of his layout – north-south single beds above the driver’s cab. Most motorhomes this style have an east-west bed above the driver’s cab and that is certainly an option on this model but single bed arrangement offers a number of practicalities.

Also fitted into this layout are a bathroom across the rear, nearside kitchen bench and club lounge/dinette on the opposite side. Although the interior area isn’t particularly spacious, a light colour scheme and largish window area creates a very pleasing ambience. By night, well-placed LED light fittings, including semi concealed strip fittings, place the illumination where it is needed. Main cabin ventilation is handled by a Fiamma ceiling fan or a roof-mounted Dometic air-conditioner and the bed area also has a wall-mounted Sirocco 12V fan.

A point of note is that the location of the Truma water heater means that it cannot be used when the right-hand window is open. There are electrical contacts fitted to the window for the Truma unit and the gas space heater that are to prevent either being used with the window open.

Often a lounge/dining area in a motorhome this size is quite small but the Vision’s will certainly accommodate two people without too much trouble. The single pole-mounted table has an oval shape which provides the happy combination of being large enough to be practical but easy enough to get around. It can be pushed out of the way when not needed. Overhead lockers above the dinette provide some much-needed general storage.

In a clever space resolution Explorer has managed to squeeze in two wardrobes. Fitting in nicely between the end of the dinette/lounge and the bathroom wall is a cupboard with hanging space in the upper area and good-sized wire basket drawers in the lower area. Wire baskets might not be everyone’s cup of tea but they are very good in the weight saving department and also easy to keep clean. The second wardrobe is tucked into the rear left-hand corner by the entry door.

THE KITCHEN

For the travelling chef, the kitchen bench comes equipped with a three-burner cooktop, a round stainless-steel sink, an  under-bench microwave oven and an under-bench 136-litre Waeco fridge. The cooktop and sink have smoked-glass lids but there isn’t a grill or a drainer for the sink. Fitted in under the kitchen bench are two drawers, one for cutlery and a cupboard area that includes two wire basket drawers.

All the air space above the kitchen bench is devoted to overhead lockers with the one nearest the door containing the all-important electrical panel. In addition to the 12V switches, it also has the water tank gauges, solar panel regulator, main 12V changeover switches and a 12V socket. If a 5V USB charger was added, the adjoining space could easily be used for stashing items (phones and tablets) while being charged.

THE BEDROOM

Up front is where the happy compromise of the bed design is to be found. By day, the single beds are pushed back into the Luton peak area but at night time, the 2.0m x 0.69m (6ft 7in x 2ft 3in) beds can be pulled out into the air space above the kitchen bench and the lounge.

A large folding box step that hinges to the driver’s cab roof between the beds swings down to make climbing in and out of the beds quite easy. That also means it is somewhat easier for making up the bed each night using sheets and blankets, however, using something like a Duvalay would make it even easier again.

Given the ceiling height of the Luton area is 800mm/2ft, 8in, there’s a fair degree of air space and the windows on either side supply good cross-flow ventilation. Between the beds is a shared bedside cabinet unit with a drawer and a flat-screen TV, mounted by the left-hand bed, can be swung around on its telescopic arm so as to be viewed from the beds or the dinette.

THE BATHROOM

Getting a bathroom into a smallish motorhome is going to require a deft hand with design and a bit of compromise. The latter isn’t too obvious with the Dometic cassette toilet fitting into the rear right-hand corner and the shower cubicle on the opposite side. The door frame of the shower cubicle crosses the rear window frame but that allows good ventilation and leaves enough space under the window for a wash basin. Filling the wall space above the toilet are a shaving cabinet and towel rail.

ELECTRICALLY SPEAKING

In its base form, the Explorer Vision has a single 100 AH battery and charger. However, in this case, the optional solar panels and a second house battery have been added – very useful for those planning extended bush travels without mains power.

VERDICT

Four-wheel drive motorhomes are something of a niche market in Australia, usually because the base vehicle and general design requirements often make it an expensive proposition. In this case, the Ranger is a capable vehicle that isn’t too expensive to begin with. Add in the suspension modifications and the moulded fibreglass body and the result is an off-road ready vehicle that is still comfortable to live in. While it’s smaller than some of the motorhomes in this publication, this makes it ideal to travel narrow bush tracks, to return reasonably good fuel economy and offer relatively good handling. The Explorer Vision fills the 4X4 motorhome niche very well.

Category: Reviews
Written: Fri 01 Apr 2016
Printed: April, 2016
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