Anyone potentially getting the Santa Cruz as a fly fishing vehicle ? I was looking at the bronco a few months ago and it was a little expensive for me, and I also don’t need that kind of off-road capability while sacrificing on road comfort. This Santa Cruz looks perfect for me to throw my wet waders in the truck bed and fly rods without getting my interior space dirty. Also hope we can add a bed rack system for a small rooftop tent. Would like to hear people’s thoughts on the Santa Cruz for this specific application.
Fly Fishing/Camping Santa Cruz
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The Santa Cruz has a pretty hefty 1748 lbs payload capacity. That's higher than many midsize trucks. A crew cab Tacoma is only 1100 lbs. If they built the roof structure for it I can see a tent being possible.
I was thinking having a bed rack to hold the rooftop tent above the bed to still utilize the bed, but also a rack on the roof for additional storage and gear.
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Yup, I understand... I guess I've just been camping off a motorcycle for so long that I'm in a minimalist category. There are many that go the RTT path and that's fine if it works for them. Didn't mean to imply it's the wrong thing to do, just my thoughts on it. I've camped off the motorcycle and a Miata but I only bring the essentials and nothing more... All my camping gear would probably fit inside the trunk of the Santa Cruz.
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If your fly rods break down for travel that should be okay. My two piece 8 wt turns into sections that are just over 4 foot long so it might be close. My 6 wt is shorter. If I'm fly fishing I have my 16 foot skiff in tow or a kayak. The kayak would require some kind of hitch extension to manage since its pushing 12 foot long.
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Welcome @DomN7!
Did you go through the Santa Cruz configurator yet and even reserved your own?
If you did, add your spec and vote on the poll here: Which Hyundai Santa Cruz model did you reserve?
I fly fish for native brook trout on super small natural mountain streams in pa, and have a 5 foot fly rod for dry flies that splits into two pieces so I’ll easily be able to fit it. But yeah an 8 wt might be tight but I think it’ll work.
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I think this exactly the kind of thing Hyundai wants people to do with the Santa Cruz. I'd be surprised if there are not already camping accessories planned. Maybe Hyundai will market them, but I bet the aftermarket is already gearing up to produce them.
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The aftermarket is one area where traditional trucks have massive support. As a new class of vehicle it will be interesting to see what is available for the SC. This could be a chicken vs egg type problem. Without knowing how popular this "activity vehicle" will be it might take awhile before the aftermarket commits to making stuff. Personally I'd like to see a SC with a brush bar in the front and fog lights plus maybe some fender flares.
Most definitely a good choice IMHO. As an Eastern Sierra fisherman from about age 5 (now 60+) that is one of the activities I hope to use a HSC for. Currently I have a RoofNest Condor Roof Top Tent (RTT) on a small 4x6 DK2 ATV trailer that was setup to pull behind my Mini Cooper (believe it or not). I don't see any reason why one of the small RTT's couldn't be mounted on a bed, cab or bed-cab combo rack. I do see the bed sides on the HSC have covered holes on what I assume are attachment points in the photos. I plan to just pull the super light weight trailer with lockable storage box and hard shell RTT to start. I found I prefer to set up camp and not have to break camp each morning to take the vehicle out to a fishing spot if I'm at a campsite. But there are trips that a RTT on the vehicle makes more sense. Especially if your are dirt road boondocking it and don't know where you will stop for the night. A bed-cab combo rack that has long rod storage along the side rails would be sweet.
Do you know what the "Active Package" includes? My computer doesn't list anything currently when I click on the (i).
The designer referenced it when discussing the toneau cover. The cover will be “optional”, but included with the activity package. He did not say what else would be included.
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