ARCO Zeus Endangering Critical Failure

Note: Christi normally writes the blog posts, however, since this is a boat technical post, Eric has authored this one.

Tuesday, February 25: We rolled out of bed at 0400 and did all the last minute things we always do before going to sea. Our first inkling that something could be wrong came at about 0530, when I turned on the main engine to warm it up. Before we get into the details, here is some important background information:

While underway, electricity to charge the batteries for Kosmos is made from an alternator on the main engine. It is an important system, and having electricity from the main engine allows us to run all the boats systems without running the generator. While underway, the boat uses quite a bit of electricity for air circulation, navigation/radar, and all the usual loads (refrigeration, freezer, lights, Internet etc.).

The main engine alternator is externally regulated by a product from ARCO called Zeus. External regulation is a general practice for interfacing with Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo) batteries, which was part of the upgrades made to Kosmos after we got back from the Sea of Cortez. Zeus has an app and can connect via Bluetooth for configuration and monitoring. Mainly, it can reduce the load on the alternator ensuring it does not overheat. The Zeus box has several sensor wires for temperature, RPM, voltage, ignition, regulator control, etc.

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Nature Walk in Ft. Sherman

The sunrise on Tuesday, February 11 again looked like there was a fire in the sky that was giving off a lot of smoke. 

Tuesday was another quiet day. We’ve found another downside to being right in front of the marina. In the morning, the marina mowed the lawn, and the wind blew grass clippings all over the boat. Eric determined that the wind generator was working well, so after he cleaned off the grass, he turned off the wind generator and brought the dinghy back onboard.  

On Wednesday morning, Eric changed the wing engine fuel filter. It was easier than, but also messier than, anticipated. In the early afternoon, Eric led a D & D session with Keith and several of the kids in the marina. 

In the evening, we went on a nature walk with Carlos, who works at the marina. His hobby is botany, and he does these nature walks as a side gig. Several people had recommended that we hire him, but up until now, he’d been booked solid with ARC boats. Now most of the ARC boats were gone and he had time for us. 

Carlos had been a young teen when the US military left Panama (in 1999). His brother had been working at Ft. Sherman as a contractor. Carlos had tagged along with his brother and remembered what the base looked like back then. 

He started the tour by explaining that during canal construction, there was a lot of excess dirt that the military utilized to create land. He said much of the flat area within Ft. Sherman, particularly near the edge of Limon Bay, was man-made, including this cove. While Carlos was talking, the resident lizard came out to say hi.

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Going to Shopping Centers and The Secret Beach

The sunrise on Sunday February 9 almost looked like there was a fire in the sky that was giving off a lot of smoke. 

Sunday was another quiet day. In the morning, Eric got dinghy down. He went for a ride around the marina, looking for crocodiles, but didn’t see any. He wanted to go out to the anchorage, but it was too windy. With the dinghy down, he turned on the wind generator to make sure it was still working properly. He ran it all day on Sunday and Monday and was pleased that it was working fine.

Some of the cruisers had talked about a secret beach behind the boat yard. On Sunday, Christi decided to look for it. She saw a trail along one of the fences. 

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More Lying Low at Shelter Bay Marina

On Thursday morning, February 6, Eric finally felt rested enough that he was ready to tackle some not-so-fun engine room projects. While Christi and Keith did school, Eric changed the oil on the generator. 

Eric also arranged to have the bottom cleaned. It $3.50 foot, but considering the guy was literally cleaning with one hand while holding a speargun with the other hand, we agreed that it was worth the money. He was also wearing a full wetsuit, which had to have been hot given the warm water temperatures here. 

In good news, he found one of the mats that had fallen overboard last week. It had a lot of growth given the amount of time in the water, but Eric was able to clean all the growth off. 

It was now day four of no water, and people were getting desperate. The marina had arranged to bring in three tanker trucks of water to fill up the boats. They injected the water into the pipes. When we (and everyone else) turned on the spigot, very little — meaning virtually none — water flowed out. It seemed there wasn’t enough pressure to force the water to flow through the pipes.

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The Panama Canal Transit Part 1 — The Mira Flores Locks

Sunday, January 19 — We’d meant to set the alarm for 0300, but Christi screwed up and set it for 0200. She was able to reset it, roll over and go back to sleep, but Eric was up for the day. Which worked out okay, because our crew was also up at 0200 and texting Eric about their status.

The crew arrived at 0250. Eric let the crew in the marina gate. Christi got up at 0300 and immediately started making coffee. We did all the last things needed to get ready to take Kosmos to sea, and untied at 0400. Eric decided to run the generator and AC all day so that the fresh lake water would flush out any salt buildup in the units, as well as keeping it cooler inside. 

Eric drove us to the rendezvous site between buoys 4 and 6, where we did a loop until we saw the pilot boat approaching us. The pilot boat pulled up along side us and a man jumped aboard. Then, much to our surprise, a second man jumped aboard, as well. 

The first man introduced himself as Thaddeus, a trainee advisor, and other man as Amado, his trainer. Thaddeus (the trainee) was very serious; Amado (the trainer) was more relaxed.

We drove towards the first of the two Mira Flores locks. The last time we went through the canal, we’d had five line handlers – three highly experienced boaters and what we’d thought were two professional line handlers (we later found out that only one of them was an experienced canal line handler). Christi was the videographer. This time, Christi was line handling, and none of our crew were experienced. But based on our experience the last time, we felt the crew was trained well enough and that all would be fine. 

While the canal was normally calm, every time a large ships or pilot boat passed us, it created sizable wakes — and we really had to hold on!

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