Solar Arch UK

[ColourfulOwl]

I bought a Beneteau 361 earlier this year. The boat is in perfect condition with basically nothing needing done to her. However, over the next 2ish year I plan to turn her into a full time live-aboard boat which will eventually let me go the distance. A key part of that is sorting out the eletrics and ability to generate my own power whilst outside of marinas. I figured the first step, as it'll allow me to start so many others, would be to sort out an Arch for the back of the boat. I know a lot of people will say it's overkill, but I'm intending to work full time from the boat and would have a high power demand between laptops, starlink/cell boosters etc etc.

Has any got any recommendations for companies in the UK that have experience with this sort of thing? My boat is currently in the North West.

I reached out to Atlantic Towers recently for a quote, which was quite a lot more then what I was expecting based on what's listed on their website, and that doesn't include fitting. Ideally I'd want a company who can help with fitting.

 

[Goldie]

Two boats I know have had superb arches added, but both done abroad for a fraction of the price of U.K. quotations. One was done in Crouesty (France) and the other in the boatyard at Portimao (Portugal). Can you manage for long enough to get yourself somewhere cheaper?

 

[Seven Spades]

If you budget can run to a lithium conversion I would recommend it. it is a game changer. it is not so much the weight saving nor the extra capacity it is efficiency of charging that changes everything. Everything you generate is simply captured, so using the engine or solar or wind or simply shore power It is amazing. On our boat e charge at up to 200A at 24V that 400A at 12v it is amazing. We are comfortable draining our batteries by 80% but that almost never happens. Two years ago we spent the summer in the med, were at anchor for most of the time and ran the generator for just 1 hour the whole season.

We don't have an arch we have 380W of solar on the deck so it is a lot of the day partially shaded.

 

[Yngmar]

Ours was done by Bob Forrest in Brighton, who took my scribblings, added some very good suggestions and built the thing in excellent quality. I helped where I could in the process. It proved excellent during our cruising time. Should've incorporated davits though!

There's some photos and said scribblings in this thread: Arch for solar Panels

 

[ColourfulOwl]

Two boats I know have had superb arches added, but both done abroad for a fraction of the price of U.K. quotations. One was done in Crouesty (France) and the other in the boatyard at Portimao (Portugal). Can you manage for long enough to get yourself somewhere cheaper?

Unfortunately I'm a few years out from heading southward towards France. I'm thinking I might rig up a system to put a couple of panels on the lifelines/sanctions for the time being + a wind generator. And then get an arch sorted further a field.

If you budget can run to a lithium conversion I would recommend it. it is a game changer. it is not so much the weight saving nor the extra capacity it is efficiency of charging that changes everything. Everything you generate is simply captured, so using the engine or solar or wind or simply shore power It is amazing. On our boat e charge at up to 200A at 24V that 400A at 12v it is amazing. We are comfortable draining our batteries by 80% but that almost never happens. Two years ago we spent the summer in the med, were at anchor for most of the time and ran the generator for just 1 hour the whole season.

We don't have an arch we have 380W of solar on the deck so it is a lot of the day partially shaded.

Lithium conversion is high on the list, it's likely I'll get that sorted out in the next few months. Likely going to go to a 24v system and move the house bank from it's current location for better trim.

Ours was done by Bob Forrest in Brighton, who took my scribblings, added some very good suggestions and built the thing in excellent quality. I helped where I could in the process. It proved excellent during our cruising time. Should've incorporated davits though!

There's some photos and said scribblings in this thread: Arch for solar Panels

This looks really good and is probably not far off from what I need. Just with the addition of an extra pole on one side to pop the starlink on too. Thanks for sending this over. Can I ask how much you paid? I've been given quotes in the £5-7k region.

I'm not sure if my current pushpit is strong enough to support an arch + the extras I want to add to it.

 

[lektran]

Solent Welding and Fabrication are building our arch at the moment, we went to take a look at the work in progress just before Xmas and it's shaping up beautifully. We'll have about 700w up there along with starlink, GPS and an outboard hoist (no davits for us).

There's a couple examples of their work on YouTube that I've seen: Sailing Polaris and Crazy Ivan.

 

[mrangry]

Im not sure where "north west" is but AGB Engineering in Irvine, Ayrshire are very competitive in stainless fabrication and have lots of happy customers on the Clyde

 

[Yngmar]

This looks really good and is probably not far off from what I need. Just with the addition of an extra pole on one side to pop the starlink on too. Thanks for sending this over. Can I ask how much you paid? I've been given quotes in the £5-7k region.

£1600, but the £ had about 30% inflation since.

 

[ColourfulOwl]

£1600, but the £ had about 30% inflation since.

Hmm, That's not horrendous. The quote's I'm getting are pretty out of kilter by the looks of it xD

Im not sure where "north west" is but AGB Engineering in Irvine, Ayrshire are very competitive in stainless fabrication and have lots of happy customers on the Clyde

North west England. My boat is in Fleetwood. Irvine is on my list of places to head towards early in my circumnavigation of the UK. Might be worth me holding off and getting somethings fab'd up there

Solent Welding and Fabrication are building our arch at the moment, we went to take a look at the work in progress just before Xmas and it's shaping up beautifully. We'll have about 700w up there along with starlink, GPS and an outboard hoist (no davits for us).

There's a couple examples of their work on YouTube that I've seen: Sailing Polaris and Crazy Ivan.

Have you got any pics? Also can you give me a ball park as to what you're paying? Cheers

 

[Tranona]

Hmm, That's not horrendous. The quote's I'm getting are pretty out of kilter by the looks of it xD

North west England. My boat is in Fleetwood. Irvine is on my list of places to head towards early in my circumnavigation of the UK. Might be worth me holding off and getting somethings fab'd up there

Have you got any pics? Also can you give me a ball park as to what you're paying? Cheers

Remember Yngmar's price was getting on for 10 years ago and I think you will find the £4k+ figure is more realistic now

 

[lektran]

Have you got any pics? Also can you give me a ball park as to what you're paying? Cheers

5-7k is pretty accurate for something solid I'd say, especially if your stern is wide. Our quote was at the low end of this and the final will probably be around the midrange after various changes to the design.

Here's the work in progress when we dropped off the pushpit for integration.