Solar Panels - where to fit - Moody 44??

Richard10002

Richard10002

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But returning to your forum name - SolarNeil - I hope Richard opts for a good dose of solar current in his solution. It's free, quiet and is much easier to control/regulate.


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As soon as you start to consider solar panels, you also have to consider where to fit them - so the cost is not merely a couple of decent sized panels but also the cost of the structure to carry them sensibly.

Looking at my boat, and others with panels, (not just M44s), it seems that the way to go is a gantry at the stern .. which I could guess wouldnt come in at less than a few thousand pounds with fitting (if a decent S/S framed bimini is the best part of a grand, or more).

Any comments/suggestions?

Richard
 
No, your right! If you dont have anywhere to mount them now, it's going to cost, personally I haven't mounted mine, I have four 80watt panels with long leads and place them on the w/house roof, cabin roof, deck, prop them up against cabin sidea, basically anywhere they point at the sun. When at sea I have tie downs, screwed to the sides and lash them down in any suitable spot, which tends to be w/house roof. Not ideal I admit, but does for me.
 
Richard, do you remember where mine are - on top of the spray/sun awning? Of course mine is a vast structure allowing me 2 x 185W panels but it keeps them out of the way. The main issue is the boom getting in the way but I use the traveller to keep it out at anchor and at sea, since I have two panels, one is always clear. Ideally a panel should look directly at the sun but one that is horizontal is much better than an inclined one that is not oriented correctly. i.e. for unattended boats at anchor it's best to have them flat (I can share the maths with anyone interested).

Remember that in mornings and later afternoons the path length through the atmosphere is long, which absorbs much of the sun's energy so tracking the panel to the bitter end does not gain so very much as there isn't much energy available when the sun is low.
 
I have seen some in the med fitted to the aft guard rails acting as dodgers or privacy screens when down. when in use they were lifted up and supported with a stay .
a small deck fitted plug and socket was used so they could be easy unhooked off the guard rail and stowed for heavy weather sailing.
 
I mounted mine on a gantry made by purchasing and modifying the larger plastimo derricks. The total cost was abt £600, and this was for a 180 watt solar panel.
 
Some of your replies seems to be talking about flexible or semi flexible panels, which are hard to find now. Unisolar were the best, but they have now quit the leisure market and are catering to the more lucrative household and industrial applications. The rigid glass panels really should go on a gantry and fitted with some kind of tilt arrangement. I have a Solara semi flexible panel screwed to the coachrood that can be walked on ( The size of the hatch garage controls the panel size) but you could fix them elsewhere on the coachroof because they will take a curve and are non slip. My fixed panel is supplemented by a 30W Unisolar flexible that I can move around the boat to chase the sun. The set-up works well in the Med and we had some surprisingly good results in the UK before we left. There are flexible panels available, mostly the fold up type ( down to about A4 size), but you need quite a large area to get good results. I had a long talk to the guys at Barden at the Southampton Boat Show and they have loads of good advice on solar set ups. Merlin are also pretty good.
 
If you have a bimini you could fit them on top of that. There was a link on this forum a few weeks ago showing how it was done. If you can't find it let me know and I'll dig it out. It was interesting as it used the bimini steel structure and also kept them out of sight ...... a big steel gantry on the stern of the boat ain't pretty (in my opinion).

Alan.
 
Richard

I wrestled with the same issues on my Moody 425. In the end I decided to have a gantry built and use two rigid BP 85 watt solar panels together with a Rutland 913 wind genny.

The panels are 1200mm x 550mm and fit over the stern (just). I went for rigid panels on finding them (size for size) electrically more productive than the flexible panels, they also had longer warranties.

Another factor that persuaded me to use a gantry is that the hotter the panels get the less efficient they become. I concluded that gantry mounting that would allow air to pass over and under would aid cooling.

The gantry is being made as we speak and should be fitted in October.

I have specified a strong rigid gantry structure and hope to use it in place of davits but the guys making it are a bit nervous about that! I have also had a separate bar fitted to take the GPS and Weatherman antennae and the stern light.

My dinghy and outboard only weighs 50kg so it shouldn't be problem.....

The cost for this structure which is 2m high and 3m wide, manufactured in Marbella in 318 stainless and fitted on the boat is 2000 euros. I will leave you to decide how good, bad, or indifferent that is.

Gantry aside, bought the whole package including the regulators from Marlec Engineering whose pre and post sales service has been excellent in helping me design a a package to suit my needs and dealing with post sales queries.

Hope that helps

Marlec home page
 
My 2 54W panels are on the top of my spray dodger. The boom shadow can be an issue but I chose a Sunware model which has the cells laid out in 2 groups so that even when half thepanel is shaded the other half is still active.

The 2 x 64W panels are on the bimini using clamps I found in Malta. I ended up choosing Unisolar because of a) suitable size to span the bimini frames, b) availability (end 05) and c) their claim to be less suceptible to shadow, which I have tested to be substantially true even though the boom doesn't shadow them where they are. Kyocera looked to be the best output for size/money but paradoxically the smaller footprint made them more complicated to mount in my case. I only need 1 x 250W controller for all 4 panels.

I didn't want the cost or extra hardware of a gantry so I decided on the bimini which I figure is tough enough for the Med weather. Out in the "grande large" may be another matter. I did use clamps to stabilize the bimini frame to the pushpit.
Ray
 
You are right that mounting the solar panels on a boat is the difficult part. It depends on how big the panel/s are. for large array the aft gantry appears to be the best choice.

For smaller panels you can mount one on a post clamped to a vertical at the push pit or as I do lash /bungee the panel to the top of the boom cover and remove when sailing. you might need to incorporate a pad lock and wire for security. olewill
 
I have two 60 ws fitted on the guard rails, they seem to survive Ok.
Lifted up with a line to the backstays plus some shock cord to stop them flapping up with winds.
Drilled holes in the frame and fitted a couple of brass skin fittings, 1/2 inch, so the guard wire passes through.
Considered some sort of prop arrangement to lift them but the line to the backstays works fine. Seems simple and easy plus they can be angled easily to suit the sun.
 
Needn\'t cost Thousands....

This one:-
IMG_0135.jpg


Made by this guy,
IMG_0114.jpg


Phil Thomas at Nidri, Levkas, cost £550 in 2004. It was designed and constructed to blend in with the existing taffrail on our boat which is about the same as yours.

Nice job, don't you think?

Steve Cronin
 
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