So what would the problem of the day be on this fine Mexican Friday? We woke up with no problems, everyone was in a good mood and ready for some breakfast. Seeing as how the fridge didn’t get very cold the night before because of the engine overheating issue we decided to fire up the engine this morning and cool it down.

All was well for the first half hour or so, then we both started to think, “Does something sound different?” Pretty soon it was obvious something was making a weird, sort of indescribable background whistling noise. I went to shut the engine down while Ali clicked the refrigerator compressor off. The instant she did the noise was gone. Okay, so what’s wrong with the fridge compressor? I hopped in to take a look and about the only thing I can tell is that it appears to be empty of refrigerant. There is a sight glass and looking inside of it I can’t see a thing. Looks bone dry.

So I got out the manual to see if there was anything I could do. Reading that only assured me that I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. All sorts of special tools are involved with valves and pressures and all the rest. So even if I had been able to locate a big can of refrigerant I wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.

Okay, so now what? We took a look at the weather and saw that we’ve got maybe a thirty six hour weather window to move north in light head winds before they strengthen for a week straight. We’ve no desire to be stuck in Chamela with no refrigeration for a minimum of a week, so tomorrow we head north.

We’ve got so much to do in PV that it hurts my brain to even think about it. This has been one heck of a shakedown cruise.