Solar Panel Support - Mainship 400?

[jefndeb]

Hello,

I am planning a solar panel installation for our Mainship 400.

I had a local craftsman who runs a good SS fab & welding shop close by meet me at the boat and try to come up a way to build a support structure to mount a frame to hold 2 or 3 solar panels.

He came up with a pretty good idea but his quote was around 3k, not including the panels. I was not expecting that....

I am looking for ideas from owners who may have had this done.

His idea was to build an external arch that, after being attached to the aft upper 1 1/4" rails, would span over the aft upper bimini..tie into the mast for support as well..(somewhat crude shown on my attached pic in red)

Anybody has pics or suggestion would be great.

Thanks

 

[DavidM]

Years ago I bought a used catamaran sailboat and the PO had done something similar to what your welder came up with. It held two 100 watt panels nicely.

But I would just use flexible panels which are 1/3 the weight of aluminum frame ones and stitch the corners to the bimini fabric. I did this on a previous sailboat and it worked fine.

David

 

[JFisher]

I built a similar solar panel arch this past spring over the bimini of my Pilot 34. My bimini frame had existing grab rails that served as the base of the new solar panel support rails. I think you could do something similar and use less SS tubing, saving on cost. Instead of welding the tubing I used SS fittings for ease of disassembly and temporary storage, if needed. I echo DavidM's comments above...I used two flexible 175W panels to save on weight. Each panel was supported by custom aluminum right angle brackets. For some additional support I added a layer of Coroplast corrugated plastic between the panels and support framing. The test came when we were caught on open water in a microburst with what I estimate to be 60+ MPH winds. The system held up perfectly.

 

[GoneFarrell]

jef,

Here's another way to go mounting flex panels on a bimini:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s4/considering-going-solar-51605-4.html#post905902

Cost was minimal as I made the stringers myself. Works good, has done well in several storms here. Just took it all down for the winter. Minimal cost.

 

[Xlantic]

I built a structure to support 6 330W panels, each 1x2 metres and weighing 20 kgs.

Its was built out of rectangular aluminum tubing and cost around 3k to fabricate.

It replaces the Bimini top which was in poor condition and would have cost almost a boat unit to get a new one.

The panels themselves were dirt-cheap, around €120 each.

I now never use the genny!

 

[Pmcsurf1]

We did the flexible panels on the Bimini top. We used rare earth magnets to attach so no holes.
Used 10 awg to the controler. Snaked the wire down an old GPS hole and down the pvc pipe to engine room.
2 100 watt Renogy panels $125 each on Amazon
Victron Bluetooth 100v 20 amp mppt controller $157
100' 10 awg Ancor marine wire $40
Crimper and a couple extra connectors $15.
I also put some weather stripping on backside of panels near the hard edge of panels.
Seems to work but I don't know how to read the victron app. My battery inverter still shows a discharge of 7 or 8 amps just as before I installed. Btw. Just did install couple days ago.

 

[Comodave]

Hello,

I am planning a solar panel installation for our Mainship 400.

I had a local craftsman who runs a good SS fab & welding shop close by meet me at the boat and try to come up a way to build a support structure to mount a frame to hold 2 or 3 solar panels.

He came up with a pretty good idea but his quote was around 3k, not including the panels. I was not expecting that....

I am looking for ideas from owners who may have had this done.

His idea was to build an external arch that, after being attached to the aft upper 1 1/4" rails, would span over the aft upper bimini..tie into the mast for support as well..(somewhat crude shown on my attached pic in red)

Anybody has pics or suggestion would be great.

Thanks

If you have 1 1/4” S/S bimini bows you could use 1.25” hinged jaw slides to attach to the top of the bows. Put a jaw slide on each side of the top of the bows sticking straight up through the bimini top canvas. Then attach a rail from side to side across the top of the bimini. You would have to seal the penetrations through the canvas but that is not too hard to do. This would be a very cheap thing to do. 8 hinged jaw slides and 2 S/S rails. Put 4 of the jaw slides on the existing bimini bows and 4 on the 2 rails. Then bolt the jaw slides on the bimini to the ones on the new rails. Then mount the solar panels on the new rails. Amazon has the hinged jaw slides in 1.25”.