GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #37 | Page 8

The middle of the van incorporates a nearside kitchen with, admittedly, minimal bench space, a four-burner cooktop with griller, sink with filtered drinking water, and some cupboards and overhead lockers. One of these lockers, however, is taken up by the Projecta charger for the van’s two 100Ah AGM batteries. A generous 184L three-way fridge comes as standard, and I loved the full-height pull-out pantry. This is what I mean about this van having potential as a family tourer: there’s a lot of sensible food storage space. Next to the pantry, this van has been fitted with a combo shower/toilet fibreglass bathroom with a cassette toilet, variable-height shower and ventilation hatch. No surprises here, but it’s certainly a welcome addition. But where does mum and dad sleep in this van? you might be wondering. Well, Paramount has fitted a front fold-out bed end, complete with a boot storage system in the style of its very popular Duet range. Essentially, you unlatch the fibreglass ‘lid’ of the bed end, and it will rise automatically on gas struts to reveal plenty of storage space for camp chairs and the like. It’s then a matter of lowering the bed base, which is retained in the vertical travelling position by a sliding bolt. Inside, you simply need to raise a steel- tube ‘hoop’ to stretch the canvas walls taught, fit a couple of crossbars, tighten them up, and you’re done. The entire process shouldn’t take more than one minute.