Every Christmas, half of Santiago comes to Pucón. Rents sky-rocket, and the beach fills up with people and garbage. So we decided to pack up our Mitsubishi 4x4 (AKA Monty), head south and hope we didn't get a flat.
But first, we had to figure out how to live out of a truck for two months.
This is the story of our M.F.V (Multi-functional Vehicle).
For two months in the middle of nowhere, we needed a bedroom when it rained (tents are a pain when they're wet), a picnic table when there aren't tree stumps or rocks, a kitchen for preparing food, a snackbar when we just want a quick bite--even when it's raining, and a storage system for the rest of the time on the road.
This system had to be sturdy enough withstand the carretera austral and ruta 40, light enough to travel with and carry into a hotel room, collapsible to use in several different ways, cheap enough to not break our budget, and simple to build.We started with a bunch of plywood, some screws and an electric drill.
To build an M.F.V. you will need:
1 sheet of 12mm ply-wood
1 sheet of 9mm ply-wood
box of 1 1/8'' screws
table saw (optional)
electric drill
screw-driver (optional)
wood glue
Other than that, you'll only need:
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| a lot of patience... |
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| ....a few twists of a screw driver... |
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| ....some elbow grease... |
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| ...and a few swipes with some wood glue should do it... |
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| ...more glue... |
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| ...some accuracy... |
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| ...more patience... |
...the satisfaction of going places in style...
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| our M.F.V. is ready! |
Actually, you'll need a few more things too. Go the nearest fishing harbor and pick up an old styrofoam ice crate for shipping fish, bleach it out and make sure that all the plywood boxes that you build are the same height. You will also need some inflatable mattresses to put on top of the boxes should you choose to do so.
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1. Snack Bar
So here's how it works. My Grampa, who is down here joining us for Torres del Paine trip and Navimag ferry back up to Puerto Montt, will help me demonstrate the M.F.V. in action.
This is the snack bar...
When the boxes are stacked up in the back, all you need to do is open the back hatch and take one of the narrow boards and shove one end under the boxes.
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| Notice that it doubles as a kitchenette and food prep area with a rain cover. The fridge can stay on top, but you loose some work space so we usually just put it under the bar. Try to put the heaviest stuff closest to the car. |
Here's how it worked in real life:
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| Here's my Dad making Kinderkaffe on some mesa in Argentina. |
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| This @!#%&* Patagonian wind won't let the stove light! |
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time for snack in the middle of nowhere!
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| For REALLY high wind situations, don't even bother trying to cook outside. HEY! Why is that Milchreis pink ? |
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2. Bedroom
Now my Grampa will help me demonstrate the bedroom arrangement. To make the bedroom, you have to fold down the back seats and then move the two top boxes forward to cover the back. Then put the boards over the top of the boxes and put the mattresses on top of the platform. It was wide enough for three of us in the back while Kaia stretched out on a comfy blow-up mattress up front.
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| The extra stuff that you see on the sidewalk, we used to elevate Kaia's mattress. |
Here's how it looks in action: Be warned, these are actual field shots from Tierra del Fuego...
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| Looks like noon, but it's actually just 8 AM in the summer at the end of the world. |
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3. Banquet Hall
The banquet hall is good to use when the ground is flatter and when you're staying at a place for longer than just a half hour. We set it up inside our tent in El Chaltén where we stayed for three nights. It was kind of cool to have our own dining room in our tent. We made some very good cherry jam there.
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4.Packing up
After you've used all the designs and it doesn't seem so exciting anymore, you can pack it up again...
...like this
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| Chocale!!!! |
P.S.
In case you have more then three to four (3-4) family and/or friends coming with you on you're next trip, we do not, under any circumstances, recommend you to build this project.
