Tuesday, March 31, 2009 12:37:07 PM Location: Santa Barbara de Samana The boat position was not recorded. This weather observation was taken on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 12:26:56 PM local time. Observation location: Santa Barbara de Samana. Observation position was not recorded. The air temperature is 83, and water temperature is 0 degrees fahrenheit. The forecast is Sunny. The current weather is dry. The sky is clear or a few clouds. The wind is 10 knots from the east. The visibility is 13 nautical miles. The wave height is 1 feet with 0 foot swells. The barometer is 1019 millibars and falling. The Refrigerator, part 3 I usually like to establish a primary contact in the ports I visit. I look for a native who speaks English well, and pay him some money now and again for helping me find stuff and get things done. In Samana, the port authority brought Chito, a licensed tourist guide out when they came out, and I had been using him over the past few weeks. Now the refer was making ice, but was struggling to keep everything cold, especially under way. And, since we would need to really stock up before heading up into the Bahamas, I thought we had better have someone look at it. So I asked Chito and he was the guy who recommended and brought the two refer guys out to the boat last Wednesday and again on Thursday as previously reported. On Saturday it was completely ineffective and I turned it off. Since then I have been trying to find Chito and have these guys return. Unfortunatly there is no trace of him. I went to his house, left messages, left my cell phone number, called his house several times. Nada. No Chito. Yesterday I went to two hardware stores to buy freon cans and the little valve and tubing that you need to connect the can to the refer. I found the freon cans, but no tubing. So, this morning I renewed my quest. Fortunately, I have established some friends with the guys at the two docks and one came over to see if he could help me. He spoke no English, but I found out that there were 6 hardware stores in town and he hooked me up with one of the motorcycle taxi riders. So, off we went. We hit them all and while several had the cans, no one had the valve and tubing you need to get the gas from the can to the cooler. You might think someone would begin to wonder why their stock of cans was so old and dusty. But, then again... However, we struck paydirt. On one of the stops, we found the two guys! Yup. So with a lot of broken Spanish, I arranged for one of them to come back to the boat at 10:00 to fix the refer and one did. Again, this guy's Spanish was marginal to begin with, but we did communicate at a very basic level. I bought the new can of freon, solder and a new filter and he donated the work. He took the old filter out to be sure it wasn't the problem and when he did, I discovered that there was plenty of gas in the system. So, a leak was not the problem. He worked until noon, and by the time he left I we concluded that the compressor was weak and I should be prepared to get a new refer when I get to the states. It is on now and cycling, so I think it is at least as good as when I started it all. I am impressed by how nice and sincere the guy was about doing everything possible to get it going again. I gave him another 500 pesos ($18.5) for his good effort. So now there is another ice tray in the freezer and tomorrow morning I will know just how useful it is. I'm sure now that the 12V operation is not as powerful as the 120 V operation, probably because the wiring guage is too small. So, I will have to pull new wires when I put a new one in. So with the system weak to begin with, and the 12 V issue, I think I know why it does not keep cold during passages. We might just use the refer as a refer, and the deep freezer for all the frozen stuff. I've asked Mary to start shopping on the net for a new one. Both Norcold and NovaCool make ones that fit precisely. Tom Lawler loves his NovaCool and it is 9 cu ft while the new Norcold is only 7. All the boats heading south have left. I'm hoping some more arrive today or tomorrow during this window. The windows seem to be getting more frequent and longer as we approach spring. I also talked some more with the cruisers here that have been through the Bahamas and got some more recommendations for routes and stops. I'm thinking Mary and I should leave no later than May 1 and head to the islands. The weather should be good and there seems to be plenty to see and do. Life is good even without ice... David Powered by BoatExec http://www.BoatExec.comDavid A Schramm M/V Jenny Current Location (blue pin) Jenny Journey Log