Anyone made their own stern arch?

[davethedog]

Hello all and just wondering if anyone has made their own stern arch for solar panels, and if so where is the best place to get the tubing etc? Baseline marine?

DTD

 

[matthewriches]

Local stockholder that deals in stainless is always the best place, in terms of cost. Usually comes in just over 6 or 7 meter lengths if memory is correct. If you can do the job out of offcuts then a fabricator may be the best place as he can lose some small sections for beer tokens.

 

[davethedog]

Thanks

 

[rogerthebodger]

Hello all and just wondering if anyone has made their own stern arch for solar panels, and if so where is the best place to get the tubing etc? Baseline marine?

DTD

Find some one local who will bend tube properly and discuss the design with them.

I have made stern arch for my 2 last yachts and started by getting the tube bent to start with.

I also looked around the marina to get some idea how others tackled the design.

I also used 50mm dia plastic pipe to construct a template so to test the design and looks.

This was one design I did

Final design

 

[vyv_cox]

I made mine using mostly standard fittings. The tubing and some fittings came from Baseline and I bought some others in USA. Note that the arch is partly supported by the radar pole but it would be OK if not with a few modifications. I had the panel supports made locally in stainless steel flat bar, made collars to fit the tubes from a length of stainless steel tube, each one drilled and tapped for grub screws.

The photo shows the original design that allowed the panels to tilt fore and aft. This did not seem worth continuing with, so in the current design the aft pair of tubes are extended downwards to fittings bolted to the transom.

 

[Irish Rover]

I thought the setup on my new to me boat looked really flimsy but it's as solid as a rock and has been there 10 years with no problems

 

[GrahamM376]

As said above, steel stockholders are the best bet, as with many things avoid suppliers with "marine" in the name to save on cost. Before buying, find out who locally can bend the tube for you and what size formers they have, we used 40mm x 1.5 but it's used as davits as well as solar mount.

 

[Concerto]

You may find this site useful for jointing.
https://www.seascrew.com/browse.cfm...UARDRAIL-FITTINGS-316-STAINLESS-&l=0000000031

 

[neil1967]

Vyv

Did you bend any of the tubes, or just use fittings? I wonder if many arches are over-engineered?

Neil

 

[davethedog]

Thanks for all the advice as will speak to a fabricator also but got a feeling that will be big bucks!

 

[GrahamM376]

Vyv

Did you bend any of the tubes, or just use fittings? I wonder if many arches are over-engineered?Neil

Some may be but many are built too light and those which are just extensions to taff rails often create deck leaks around the rail mounts. In our case, we have 90kg of dinghy + outboard, solar panels and an Aerogen mounted on it plus the weight of the gantry. Someone can no doubt work out what the accelerated weight is when rolling, the load being 8-9 ft above waterline.

 

[neil1967]

Graham

Understood, but without 90Kg of dinghy/outboard and aerogen, I suspect a home built structure using 25 or 32mm tubes and fittings is probably sufficent to support 300-400W of panels without having to resort to a custom build, as Vyv has demonstrated.

Neil

 

[GrahamM376]

Graham Understood, but without 90Kg of dinghy/outboard and aerogen, I suspect a home built structure using 25 or 32mm tubes and fittings is probably sufficent to support 300-400W of panels without having to resort to a custom build, as Vyv has demonstrated. Neil

If it's just for panels, I agree.

 

[TQA]

This is an another option, an arch 'in a box'. http://www.atlantictowers.com/products_sail_arch.php

Not sure of the cost in the UK.

 

[davethedog]

Thanks all and as we already have davits the idea is only to allow for an additional solar panel or 2 for when we head to the med. Will have a think and look at pricing up the cost to make my own arch mods as will be a bit out of the norm as we have a hunter legend 41 with the traveller arch.

 

[Kelpie]

What sort of diameter/wall thickness stainless tubing could be bent on a plumbers pipe bender?

 

[rogerthebodger]

Graham

Understood, but without 90Kg of dinghy/outboard and aerogen, I suspect a home built structure using 25 or 32mm tubes and fittings is probably sufficent to support 300-400W of panels without having to resort to a custom build, as Vyv has demonstrated.

Neil

Its mot just strength it rigidity that you need to look at,

Both the one I made I used 50mm dia 2mm thick 316 tubing. The fwd and aft strength on rigidity was OK but it was the side to side movement that was unacceptable and if left unbraced would fail due to inertia movement. This is where good bracing using a separate fixed pushpit helps greatly.

 

[rogerthebodger]

What sort of diameter/wall thickness stainless tubing could be bent on a plumbers pipe bender?

A plumbers/electricans bender would normally bend think wall tube up to about 25 mm. I you are thinking of a hydraulic press bender those can only bend thick wall tube, thin wall would kink.

If you wish to have small radius bends you could need a mandle bender.

 

[vyv_cox]

Vyv

Did you bend any of the tubes, or just use fittings? I wonder if many arches are over-engineered?

Neil

It is all built from straight 1 inch tubing with fittings. The only slightly different fitting is the ones that attach to the pushpit, which need to be the bolted on type. All the others are closed and slide onto the tubing.

There are slight bends in the two tubes that extend upwards from the pushpit to enable them to meet the forward horizontal tube. I did these by filling them with sand and heaving one end up with the other held in a cradle but the angle is only about 5 degrees. On another job I have bent the same type of tube, 25 mm with 1.5 mm wall thickness using a conduit bender but needed to ad a 2 metre pipe to the handle to get enough leverage. Again, the angle was relatively small around a fairly small radius.

The arch does derive some strength from the radar pole but I have seen plenty built the same way that do not have this bonus. My panels are 85 and 40 watts, rigid. I don't hang anything else off it.

I have seen beautiful arches made in France, Greece and Turkey but all cost more than £2000. Mine was about a tenth of that and has been perfectly OK for ten years now.

 

[DownWest]

What sort of diameter/wall thickness stainless tubing could be bent on a plumbers pipe bender?

I think 25mm with 1.5 wall might be a bit difficult on a simple plumbers bender and the hydraulic push type will not do a smooth bend on 1.5 or even 2mm wall thickness. I just built a draw bender that does nice bends in 25mm.SS. I have a few jobs coming up that need those, including a solar arch. Prob is, I doubt that you can rent a draw bender off the local tool place.