Project Maya Hunter - Part 4

Geared For Adventure: Tools, equipment, and cool accessories to make Maya Hunter’s off-road jungle jaunts easier

story and photos by Bruce W. Smith

Having the right truck set up with the right parts is the first step toward making off-road adventures less adventuresome — in the negative sense. A good suspension, capable winch and bumpers, skid plates, and copious amounts of traction from lockers and tires are part of that setup.

But let’s not forget those other tools and accessories that play a big part in making off-road adventures into unknown territory less worrisome.

Our Maya Hunter Toyota Tacoma and its Off-Road Adventures companion, the Yamaha Rhino 4x4, are well-equipped with the primary bolt-on hardware necessary for basic jungle travel. They’re also well-equipped with some cool tools and accessories.

For example, the Tacoma needed lower body and bumper protection from rocks, mud, limbs, and other debris. But instead of applying tape-on rocker protection, which could lead to rust and another part to worry about in a couple of years down the road, we chose to have the lower body and bumper coated with Rhino Lining. It’s proven to be perfectly suited to repelling damaging elements while retaining a quality look on previous project vehicles, so we had no qualms about giving the Maya Hunter the same treatment.

Rhino Lining running along the rocker panels and covering the ARB bumper protects against mud and other debris that cause rust and other body damage. Tube step/Nerf bars are from Toyota.

Gulf Coast Rhino Linings (www.gcrhino.com; 228-896-3535) in Gulfport, Mississippi, installed the protective, rhino-hide-like coating first on the ARB Bull Bar and then on the truck itself. Gulf Coast shot the bumper inside and out and taped off the Tacoma’s natural body-line along the lower edge to give it a good, thick coating.

A critical aspect of a first-class Rhino Lining installation-or any spray-on bed liner product-is preparation not painting.

“If the area to be coated isn’t thoroughly rough-sanded and cleaned before spraying, the material will not adhere and provide the long-lasting protection like it’s supposed to,” says Rose Meister, who manages the shop and does some of the prep and spray work her self.

Rhino Linings goes to great lengths to make sure its dealers are well-educated in this aspect. It’s easier on a brand-new truck because it’s clean. Still, the process of sanding, cleaning, and prepping takes a few hours to do it right.

After the Rhino Lining was in place, it was back to Spears Auto Repair to add on and organize other products in the Maya Hunter to use on the trail.

This new-products showcase highlights the items that sponsors have donated to the project to make Vanderbilt archaeologists more comfortable and safer on trips to and from the jungles of Guatemala. The same products would work equally as well on your own 4x4.

In our next installment, we’ll cover more of the finishing touches on the Maya Hunter-and then turn our attention to setting up Maya Hunter II, the Yamaha Rhino 4x4 side-by-side, for real off-road adventures.

Craftsman Tool Sets

Hand tools on the trail are a must for self-sufficiency. Craftsman covers that with kits for the truck and the base camp. The 189-piece Mechanics Tool Set (foreground) stays with the Tacoma, while the 151-piece set (back left) and Military Tool Case, which holds tools and is a good storage place for the composite air gun, will be kept at the camp.

Craftsman Side Boxes

This pair of Craftsman Sidebed III, black diamond-plate saddle boxes provides secure and weatherproof storage in the Yamaha Rhino’s bed. They’re designed to fit all pickups, but because the Maya Hunter bed is being utilized in other ways, the Rhino is a good alternative location.

Craftsman Combo Kit

Our intrepid archaeologists are actually building a base camp in the jungle, so Craftsman set them up with this nifty 19.2-volt Cordless Combo Kit with Multiple Tools. It includes a half-inch drill/driver, trim saw, reciprocating saw, fluorescent light, charger and two battery packs.

Yamaha Generator

Electricity in the boonies, let alone in the jungle, is nonexistent. That is, of course, unless you have a generator. Yamaha donated one of its new four-stroke EF2800i, a superbly quiet genset that weighs just 68 pounds and comes with an inverter.

Eureka! In Roof Basket

Eureka! supplied four- and six-person tents, secured on the Yakima MegaWarrior roof basket, for the team. Yakima has mounting brackets for lights, shovels, axes, spare tires, and even the Hi-Lift Jack to secure to its big racks.

ARB Air Compressor

Having on-board air is always a plus, so ARB, which supplied the front Air Locker, also provides the tire-inflator kit to use with its air compressor. Air hose snaps onto the fitting on side of compressor tank (shown).

Cobra CB Radio

Communication between vehicles and base camp is a matter of off-road safety and convenience. The 75 WX ST All-in-handset Mobile CB is just the ticket for the Tacoma. It features state-of-the-art communications and the ability to instantly monitor 10 NOAA weather channels. Transmitter/receiver is the size of a pack of cigarettes, so we mounted it under the center console. (Cobra also supplied the truck with its XRS 9500 high-performance radar/laser detector.)

TRD Seat Covers

Another cool accessory from Toyota is the neoprene seat covers, which are actually from Toyota Racing Development (TRD.) They not only look custom, they’re the perfect slip-on protectors to keep water, mud, snow, dirt, drink spills, and other crud from ruining your seats.

Yakima Bed Basket

A new part of the 2005 Toyota Tacoma is a wide range of factory accessories, including this Yakima-made Load Warrior bed rack/basket system. It mounts to the bed rails and slides forward or backward depending on need. Wright’s Custom Products/Ritetie supplied all the different tie-downs.

Coleman Backpack

Daypacks are a nice comfort/convenience item, and no one does them better for the money than Coleman’s new Exponent line. We’ll put the Coleman Exponent® backpacks to use when we head to the jungle in May, along with some other gear in the new line of outdoor products.

Garmin GPS

Getting lost is easy in the deep woods. But Garmin made sure that wouldn’t happen by supplying a new Quest GPS for the truck. It provides state-of-the-art satellite coordinates, downloadable mapping, and has a color screen. It’s portable, too, so Dr. Estrada-Belli can tote it along when he’s hiking the Maya ruins.

Warn Winch Accessory Kit

Warn not only supplied the 9,500-pound capacity winch, it also provided the Maya Hunter with its heavy-duty winch accessory kit. It includes snatch block, heavy-duty winch straps, leather gloves, and choker chain. When the Tacoma gets bogged down, the team will have the right gear to hook up the winch safely for extraction.

Optronics Lights

No adventurer — in jungles, caves, or canyons — walks about at night without good light. Optronics is well-known for great head- and handheld lights. It equipped the team with its new, Xenon LED Rechargeable headlamps and the 2,000,000 candlepower, rechargeable Xenon QR-2000 Nightblaster handheld spotlight.

Hi-Lift Jack

Our friends at Hi-Lift Jack Company provided the most basic necessity of all off-road adventurers: a 48-inch Hi-Lift Jack, complete with 4XRAC to secure it to the truck, Off-Road Base to give it solid footing, and the Lift-Mate to make it easy to hoist a tire in the air. The Hi-Lift can hoist-or pull-4,660 pounds.

B&M Trans Cooler

One of the hidden tools/accessories is this automatic-transmission auxiliary oil cooler from B&M Racing. It installs in minutes and ensures that the heavy loads put on the tranny during hard off-roading will not cook the fluid, leading to catastrophic failure in short order.

ProComp Tire

Good street/all-terrain tires are a must for highway travel. ProComp’s All-Terrain tires, mounted on American Racing rims, will handle that duty for the Maya Hunter. The tires were shipped direct from 4Wheel Parts Wholesalers, mounted and balanced.