C0d3M0nk3y's Whitewater build

looks like a great time! Where did you camp at?

 

The pictures are from Cardenas (71.6) and One Hundred and Eightfive (186). Both were clear nights. Cardenas was on day 4, and One Hundred and Eightyfive was on day 11. It was a short trip (13 days) and there was a lot of rain. I did the best I could given the circumstances. It was also my first time trying night photography. I learned a lot and will have to check a few things whenever I try again.

 

Air Compressor

I have been meaning to get an air compressor for awhile now, and finally did it. I thought about an on-board air compressor, but I do like the idea of being able to use it on my 2nd vehicle (that seems to have a slow leak on one tire that needs to be constantly filled up monthly).

I went ahead an picked up the ARB 12v Portable Air Compressor along with the ARB Inflator with Gauge. I have a very cheap Harbor Freight tire gauge that I can use for deflating.

Links:

$394 ARB CKMP12 Portable Air Compressor 12V High Performance and Output Compressor

ARB 12v Portable Air Compressor

$48 ARB ARB605A Tire Pressure Monitor Inflator and Deflator with Analog Gauge and Flexible Hose in Blue

ARB Inflator with Gauge

In other news...
Several other projects are in-flight. My Raspberry Pi car computer is making progress, but I really want the 2nd fuse box in-place before I try that install. Once the 2nd fuse box is in-place I will also be looking at the CB install, and then a mobile Ham radio as well. No reason to not have options. I also want to wire up 2 USB always-on ports (well, almost always on, there will be a switch that I can use to turn on the USB ports when need be).

I am also looking at a Scepter 20L water jug and a NATO gas can. With those I would then rig up some strap down points in the bed to secure the 2 cans. I would probably use a bit of L-track and some cam straps. I finally found some good prices on the Scepter water jug (~$39) and the gas can is in-line with what I could possibly justify (~$80).

Too many things I need/want to do...not enough time/money.

 

Jerry Can/Water Can and Cooler updates

I went ahead and picked up a Scepter water jug and a Nato Jerry Can from Lexington Container Company. They seemed to have reasonable prices, and it would finally fulfill my need for extra water and fuel.

While scanning my social media, someone made mention that Rtic lost the lawsuit against them by Yeti and they had slashed their prices. I loved my Yeti 35 for what it was, but I always felt it was a tad small for all of my needs. When I bought it, given the smaller footprint and the vehicle it was in (Mazda 3), it did well, but with the Tacoma I wanted to upgrade to something bigger. So...I pulled the trigger on the Rtic 45. I now have to move my mounting bracket for the cooler over a little bit to account for the larger cooler.

Once the cooler has been re-mounted, I will take some measurements and put down some L-track to strap in (or use to bolt in) a mechanism to keep the water/fuel cans in-place. A design consideration for the water/fuel cans is to make sure they can be easily removed and I can then sleep from corner to corner in the bed when the need presents itself.

I swear...pictures will be coming sometime.

Links:

• {Scepter}
  
• {Nato Jerry Can}
  
• {Rtic 45}

 

Rtic Relocation and Jerry Can test fit

Over the weekend I moved the bracket used to secure the Yeti 35 to accommodate the Rtic 45. I also took a few measurements to determine how to secure the Scepter water jug and the Wavian gas can. After moving the mounting bracket for the Rtic, I discovered that the cooler can migrate towards the cap window, so I am going to have to lay down some L-track and rig up a retaining lip at the base to prevent this. I am also going to use some L-track for the water can/jerry can tie downs.

Picture time:





Test placement of where I may want to secure the water can/jerry can

 

Grid-It replacement

I finally took some pictures. I continued to have issues with the Grid-It where it would not stay where I wanted it to. In an effort to solve the problem I tried to sew the velcro to the organizer, and ended up breaking my sewing machine. The sewing machine was eventually fixed (and it didn't cost a fortune).

The space where the Grid-it was valuable to me, so a new solution was needed. Since I only have 1 or two things I would like to store in that location, I figured I could sew up something that was purpose built. In the end I did just that.

Here are the pics.


Top of the center console


Back of what I sewed up.


Organizer installed

 

Can't beat an NRS Strap!

 

I ended up using some 2" NRS straps to secure the Rtic. The wider straps seem to work better in this situation. One of the 2" straps is a river find from my Canyon trip I just did. I ended up finding a helmet (no lining in it, but I can fix that), 2 cam straps (1 is junk and had to be pitched) and a Nalgene. An expedition isn't an expedition until you find at least 1 Nalgene in the river.

 

Sweet scores. Always on the lookout for river booty!

 

Sweet build and nice storage ideas.

 

Thanks. Looking at getting some extra tie-down points on the bed platform so that I can secure some of the loose items I have. Electrical and communications are supposed to be high on my list...but life has been getting in the way of those mods.

 

Homemade lock picks

I have some purchased lock picks from Toool, but they lacked a few shapes that I wanted. I watched a video where a guy talks about making picks from the metal found in windshield wiper blades, and I thought...yea...I could do that. So, I made a few. Then talking to a co-worker, he mentioned wrapping them with shrink wrap to be easier on the fingers, and that was a much easier solution than what I was thinking.

So...I have a small set of picks to keep in the truck (so...yea...it can be classified as a tuck project). I still have a few more shapes to make, but I have some of the basic shapes for most general purpose locks.

 

Bed Rail Tie Downs

When evaluating additional tie down options for the bed platform, I realized that I will need some lower profile tie downs at the bed rails.

I am using T-nuts (used in another project), and cheap steel found at Lowes. I am sure there are easier ways to make these, but I used the drill press, files and a grinder to put this all together. I initially forgot to paint these, and then noticed they were beginning to rust some...so they are currently sitting with the primer drying (last picture). I will finish them up with some paint soon.

Pics (which are pretty self explanatory):


This was before I smoothed down the corners with the grinder



Primed and drying


Materials used:

• Steel stock from Lowes (or pretty much anywhere you want to find some flat metal)
• $24 Te-Co 41406T Black Oxide 1018 Steel Tapped Through T-Slot Nut, 3/8"-16 TPI, 5/8" Height x 7/8" Width x 9/16" Table Slot (Pack of 5)
  T-Nut

 

Wireless spectrum scanning:

I picked up a HackRF some time ago, but never really did anything with it. At a recent conference, I was chatting with someone and was reminded of the PortaPack from ShareBrained Technology.

So far I have updated the firmware with the basic version and can now check the utility meters around me and some of the tire pressure sensors. I haven't had a chance to see if the Tacoma sensors will be able to be decoded with the basic firmware.

There is another firmware update that has quite a few other 'features' but I think I will stick with the vanilla firmware for now.

I now have a realtime frequency scanner that will go from 10 MHz to 6 GHz. I am currently limited by my antenna, but I can fix that. I am currently limited to 75 MHz to 1 GHz.

Maybe not the most useful thing to have, but it is going to be fun. If it turns out that just scanning the spectrum isn't as much fun as I think it will be...there is always the other firmware.

A sample of the TPMS scanning:

It turns out that the Tacoma is not on the list of sensors the portapack understands right now. This may be updated in a future firmware, or someone may just have to figure it out on their own.

 

Gear storage (Watershed and Pelican cases):

Over the years I have accumulated lots of pelican cases and Watershed bags. The pelican cases are all quite old, and the Watershed bags vary on their respective ages. I tend to pick up Watershed bags at Gauley Fest and save quite a bit of money. These bags are damn durable. The ones I use have survived a couple of Grand Canyon multi-day river trips. In fact, the Watershed bags were purchased specifically for those trips (and more have been picked up because they work so great).

My selection of Pelican Cases:

• Pelican 1400
• Pelican 1200
• Pelican 1150
• Pelican 1120

My selection of Watershed bags:

• Colorado
• Yukon x2
• Chattooga
• Ocoee x2
• really old small duffel (small yellow one in the picture)
• for kayaking (not good for the truck) I have:
  • futa x2
  • salmon

The Watershed bags are good for the soft gear I pack, and I have a liner for the Chattooga and Ocoee that I can pack my camera equipment in. The Pelican cases are being re-purposed for some of my various electronics that I find myself carrying more and more. I have (and probably will continue) to designate one of the pelican cases for first aid.

If you haven't checked out watershed bags, you really should. These things are hard to beat for keeping stuff dry, and they have proven to be surprisingly durable on Grand Canyon expedition trips.

 

War Driving with Wigle and other Wireless updates:

Wigle and a Samsung S4
At a fun security conference in Vegas, a talk in the WiFi Village went over cheap and easy ways to get into War Driving (scanning for wireless devices while driving around). I had been working on getting a Raspberry Pi running Kismet installed in the Tacoma, but that project had stalled. I had been running into issues with running power to the Pi, and finding a good mounting place for it. In this talk one of the speakers mentioned how one can get a cheap Android phone online, and install Wigle. Since you can get Samsung S4 phones for cheap, that was the suggestion. I went ahead and ordered a phone (unlocked) from eBay. The phone arrived over the weekend, and I have since installed Wigle, G-Mon, Keybase, Orbot, Orfox, Incognito, Google Maps (with offline maps downloaded for the areas I am interested in), and TagInfo. This phone now has scanning tools and other software that I can use offline while out and about.

I did create an account with Wigle, and I upload my data when I have an open hot spot. So far the tool has been working exactly as I expected. At some point I will take a few screen shots of what the phone is doing and post it up.

If you have not checked out Wigle you should do so. It is an interesting project.

Hak 5 Pineapple Mark V
Several years ago at the same conference I picked up a Pineapple Mark V. I booted it up, updated the firmware, and then promptly did nothing with it. It has been sitting in a box at my desk for years. Since that time Hak5 has released 2 new Pineapples with newer features. The Mark V has since been discontinued. Today I decided to dust off the Pineapple and searched around for the updated firmware. A BETA release of the firmware for the Mark V will get the interface and some of the functionality found in the Nano running on the older hardware.

I went ahead and followed the instructions found here. My Mark V is running. I am going to spend a little bit of time later this week getting things configured to do basic Recon on the Mark V. I will then possibly present my Mark V as an access point to anyone around, but run a version of a Rick Roll on it. Pretty benign stuff for what this hardware can do, but I really don't want to get into THAT much trouble.

Some of the problems and issue I have so far
The Samsung S4 doesn't have a mount in the vehicle right now, so it bounces around more than I would like. I am going to pick up a cell phone mount soon (probably the Mob Armor mount).

My wireless devices are currently stored in different boxes and locations. I found all of my Pelican cases, and plan on moving all of the devices into 1 box. I need to check and see if everything will fit in the 1200 or if I will have to devote my 1400 to this use. The 1200 would be preferred since it is smaller and easier to store. The 1120 and 1150 may work, but it would be awfully tight.

The Pineapple is updated, but it is not fully featured yet. I still have configuration to do.

 

What would you say your bed drawer system weighs?

 

Don't know the exact weight, but I set it up so the drawers, base and top all come off as separate pieces.

Some guestimates....

• 3/4" 4'x8' sheet of plywood weights 60.8 lbs
• 1/2" 4'x8' sheet of plywood weights 40.6 lbs
• frame is birch boards, and they probably are only a couple of lbs (so we will say 10 just because I am lazy)
• I cut holes in the base (which is 1/2" plywood" so that should reduce weight) but the drawers are 1/2", so I get the weight back
• The rails are probably about 10 lbs a pair, and I use 2 pair

So...math:

• 60.8 * 2/3 = 40.5 lbs for the top
• 40.6 * 1/3 = 13.5 lbs for the base (with the holes cut out)
• 40.6 * 1/2 = 20.3 lbs for the drawers
• 20 lbs for the rails
• 10 lbs for the frame
• ~104.3 lbs (with some funny math) for the whole thing

I can tell you that when I start loading stuff into all the compartments, some real weight starts showing up then. I also have a Leer cap on the back as well that adds about another 200 lbs.

I can also tell you that I do move all of the individual pieces by myself and have removed the platform at least once since I have installed it (had to move a lot of stuff around). Now that I think about it, I have removed the platform twice. It is a lot easier with a second person, but it really isn't that bad.

Hope this helps. Be aware that these are gustimates for the weight.

 

Wardriving update

Wigle is running, and I did pick up a Mob Armor mount. The suction cup mount works okay, but I am going to use the double sided tape mount instead. I have found that using a dedicated GPS device for mapping, and a dedicated device for Wigle works best, but Wigle does provide a nice map feature.




Wireless shenanigans

I took a pelican 1200, and dedicated it to the HackRF (with portapack) and the Pineapple Mark V. Everything is nice and tidy. I also went ahead and picked up a new antenna for the HackRF.

 

Additional Bed Storage:

Picked up a Pelican 1650 at the local University Surplus sale for $50. It has been used, but still in good shape. With Pelican reliability, I am not worried about the used part. I have since cleaned up most of the stickers/transport labels.

Seriously...$50 for a Pelican 1650...I am super happy about that!