Where to place a solar panel on a 31 ft yacht

[Erwin Swart]

Looking for an elegant solution to install a solar panel on a Moody 31.
The boat is too small for an arch...
So the most obvious options are pole installation or guardrail installation.

Any ideas, experience and photos are welcome

 

[BabaYaga]

the most obvious options are pole installation or guardrail installation.

As a further option, this how I do it on a slightly smaller sailboat:
32W on hatch garage, on hinges, so can be tilted to either side, soft 30W rollable and 50W foldable. These two only come out when at anchor.

 

[kalanka]

I have two 30W panels facing outwards on each side of the cockpit, mounted on rigid plastic panels and attached to the guardrails with small shackles and cable ties and another 30W attached horizontally across the "knees" of the bracket for my Aries windvane on the transom.

Neither siting gives optimum efficiency but are completely out of the way in normal operation and do produce power.

 

[PTB]

We've got a 80w semi flexible on the sprayhood. It is easily detachable and on a longish lead so can be moved to other places as appropriate. Having said that we get good efficiency at anchor by moving the boom so as not to create a shadow. Only downside is if you like to drop your sprayhood but I guess these things are compromises. Works for us.

 

[pcatterall]

My 2 x 80s are on the pushpit. They have arms so can be raised from vertical up almost 180 degrees. So can adjust to sun height ( but not direction)

If I wanted more power I would consider storable ones which could be in optimal position when in use but removed for sailing. Possibly have wiring in place ready to plug in.

 

[JVL]

100w on starboard aft push pit on NOA morning it’s swivels inboard or out has survived many Caledonia canal transits unscathed and keeps beer cold

John

 

[Kelpie]

We really need to know how big a panel. My 50w panel sits perfectly on the hatch garage. It's secured using bungees which allows me to move it around in a few seconds if it's in shade.

 

[Dukester52]

I put my 140w (ish) panel on the sprayhood. Sewed some industrial strength Velcro to the spray hood, and stuck it to the back of the semi-flexible solar panel. Solar panel can be removed easily at any point, and should you want to lower to spray hood. Worked a treat Hasn’t shifted an inch in years, despite the worst the weather has thrown at it.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Here is my solar panel, it is located between the mast and the hatch and is a semi-flexible type so it fits the curve of the coach-roof. The panel is 100w but I intent to replace it with a 150w in the near future.

 

[KAM]

My solution was to use lots of small panels dotted about. I have five 20W panels on a 33 footer. This minimises shading problems and they can be placed out of the way on any convenient surface.

 

[ottow]

Mostly larger boats in this thread, but may offer some ideas:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...e-to-solar-installations-on-boats-179638.html

 

[Tim O]

i have been considering the same problem on my 33 foot ketch.....only space not taken up with something is on top of sprayhood.....was thinking of getting some of those soft roof rack pads with straps to hold it on yet be removable. only other option is to move liferaft from coach-roof to pushpit and put it there

 

[wully1]

My 100 watt panel is bungied onto loops I had built into the sprayhood but I like Dukester52’s Velcro idea better!

I want another 200 Watts so am looking into guardrail options as Im too tight to built an arch...

 

[William_H]

This is the biggest conundrum for solar power on a small boat. Does the boat always face the same direction when moored or is it on a swing mooring? Do you need a lot of power for battery charge when left on mooring? Do you want recharge while sailing or just when leaving the boat or at anchor when camping overnight? Do you leave the boat unattended for long periods? If not then engine charging can be quite OK.
If you need a lot of recharge power ie to run a fridge then spending money on bigger panels is more cost effective than expensive arch over the cockpit. But more panels in inconvenient places on deck especially on a swing mooring will give less power because of shading and not being angled to face the sun.
Mounted on deck as in advice to mount between mast and front hatch in my experience results in damaged panel sooner or later from big feet or spin pole.
Mounted on a spray hood might be best bet. Gives room for relatively large panel. My solution for a small panel is to attach bungees and lash it on top of the main sail cover with a couple of flying leads to socket inside the main hatch. I remove and stow before sailing and has been like that safely for some years. If you are starting to experiment with solar you might try a small panel in a similar mounting. If you decide later you want more solar power several small panels are not much more expensive than a larger one and have advantages where shading is a concern. good luck olewill

 

[ghostlymoron]

I like to have my panels continuously deployed as, if you only use them when at anchor/moored, it means you'll only be using early morning and evening sun, not taking advantage of the time when solar radiation is at its highest. Likewise I wouldn't put permanent panels on a sprayhood as my sprayhood isn't always up.
Admittedly shading can be a problem and they are not always optimally oriented but the continuous deployment compensates for this probably. I don't have a fridge or TV so my power requirements are small.

 

[dunedin]

We have two 50W semiflexible solar panels on the spray hood. They are very light weight. Held by 2inch industrial velcro sewn to spray hood and self adhesive sticking on back of panels.
As boat generally gets left in commission all year round, added belt and braces of short ties through holes in corners of panels.
Spray hood mount works well. We now have a third 50w panel that is removable but generally just lies in the dinghy at the stern when cruising.

 

[stevie69p]

Also interested in this thread as looking to upgrade the very minimal solar on my boat.
It's an LM27 so has the pilot house roof available where there is an existing flexible small panel fitted, but I'm thinking of putting 2 x 100 watt rigid panels on the roof but concerned that the more or less horizontal installation may not be great this far north (55 deg) so perhaps some kind of adjustable angle brackets would be a good idea to get the panels angled more toward the sun?
I never walk on the coachroof as the boat has in mast mainsail furling.

 

[Pete7]

Mostly larger boats in this thread, but may offer some ideas:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...e-to-solar-installations-on-boats-179638.html

An interesting thread and the Moody 31 in that thread has a 150w solar panel on a rear arch, but Erwin thinks the yacht is to small for an arch.

Pete

 

[Swanrad2]

These are for a liveaboard cruiser but they have one adjustable fitting on the side portion on the pushpit/guardrail (where does a pushpit become a guirdrail?). The advantage I guess is that one of the two is always out of the shadow of the boom. They fold flat aganst the guardrail when not in use.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdeHWB6HfAs/

 

[JVL]

How I did it

John