WANTED A REAL OUTDOORS TRUCK\Manufacturers are missing a good bet.

Byline: Eric Sharp Detroit Free Press 

There's only one problem when it comes to finding a four-wheel-drive vehicle designed for hunters, anglers, campers and other outdoors people.

Nobody makes one.

Oh, a ton of companies make sport utility vehicles and pickups they sell to outdoors people, but every one is aimed primarily at some other segment of the auto-buying public.

Don't believe me? Well, then explain this. How come I can use a hose to wash fish blood out of the average $15,000 walleye boat (full of sophisticated electronics, by the way), but I can't use a hose to wash mud out of the cab of my $25,000 Ford F-150 pickup?

How come that same 16-foot boat has weather-tight lockers, where I can stow fishing rods, shotguns, tackle boxes and the like, but I can't find similar lockers in a Jeep Grand Cherokee?

The average boat is far more specialized than the average four-wheel-drive truck, whether the boat is used for waterskiing, fishing or just cruising.

That's because boats are aimed at a much more demanding consumer. Most sport-utilities are sold to suburbanites who never go off-road, are delighted if the thing will hold a load of groceries, and think the little fabric cover they can pull out to hide stuff in the rear compartment represents real security.

Some auto salespeople have told me that auto companies can't afford to offer the kinds of options I would like to see on a truck. But they can offer $2,500 stereo systems and $2,000 leather seats? Get real. If an auto company were to build a limited-edition vehicle aimed at real outdoors people, it would sell like life jackets on the Titanic.

Let's play with a design for a practical outdoors vehicle.

We need a four-wheel-drive vehicle with a modest cab, big cargo space and compartmentalized storage areas. This means an extended-cab truck, because no company I know of makes a full-size, four-wheel-drive van (a lack that stuns me, because I've always thought such a vehicle would be fabulous).

Ideally, we would be able to hose out the cab. That means a unitized passenger compartment of some kind. We would have closed and open storage bins everywhere - under the seats, in back of the seats and built into the overhead and doors.

We would have plug-in ports in the cab roof so we could hook a portable CB, global positioning system and cellular telephone to roof-mounted antennas without having to run the cables through a door (and allowing us to take the electronic units with us when we leave the truck).

We would have a cap, or shell top, on the back with a real lock. (Can someone explain why $700 pickup caps come with $1.59 locks that have a life span measured in weeks?) The cap would have a side-access door as well as doors at the rear, and a roof rack strong enough to carry a canoe or rowboat. There also would be fishing rod racks inside, on the ceiling.

There would be tie-down points on the front and rear bumpers for securing boats, windsurfers and other big gear carried on top of the pickup cap, and they would be strong enough to double as hookup points for tow lines.

We might even have a pop-up section at the rear of the cap, like the cabin tops on some small cruising sailboats. This would let us raise the roof and set up a table where we could eat, tie flies and do other chores. For those who would like to use the truck as a camp, combining the pop-up section with fabric panels that fasten to the rear door and tailgate would create a serviceable camper with little weight.

Inside the truck box, a locker would run down one side with compartmentalized storage space underneath and the top doubling as a sleeping platform. The whole locker would fold down against the side wall for those times we want to carry something big in the back. We also would have good lighting built into the top of the cap and under the box side rails. A bed liner would give us a flush interior yet still offer narrow, molded-in storage spaces between the liner and the outside box wall.

The cab heater would blow warm air into the box as desired, and the truck would have 12-volt power points and a 115-volt external outlet built into the pickup bed. We could run or recharge a cellular phone or computer off the internal 12-volt, or use household lights and other gear by plugging into a campground electric source. We also would have an auxiliary battery for the accessories, just like a boat, so we don't drain the starter battery.

Finally, we would have a real jack, a hydraulic model that would let us lift a fully loaded wheel without busting a gut, maybe even a jack powered by the truck's electrical system. (The first time I had to change a tire on my Ford pickup, I was stunned by the Mickey-Mouse jack I found.)

Those are just a few ideas for things I would like to see in a real truck for outdoors people. Many of you probably have ideas of your own, some of them better. If the auto companies really want to impress the outdoors market, they need to talk to outdoors people.

CAPTION(S):

DRAWING

Drawing no caption (sport utility vehicle) Jim Thompson / Daily News