Advice for mounting 800W of solar panels?

[scottmills]

First off .... are you running a small city ????
I make do with 160 watts on a 48 ft sloop.
But anyway, mount them where you don't have to see them. I suggest semi flexable - they go nicely on top of dodger and bimini.
Good luck, nice looking' boat.

[gathem]

Originally Posted by scottmills

First off .... are you running a small city ????
I make do with 160 watts on a 48 ft sloop.
But anyway, mount them where you don't have to see them. I suggest semi flexable - they go nicely on top of dodger and bimini.
Good luck, nice looking' boat.

I will need to work from the boat. In order to work, I need power. I want to be able to work while at anchor, and not just when I am at dock. Intermittent power will not do.

I also like the idea of being able to run our AC or heater or refrigerator or washing machine and not worry about running out of power.

[secrabtree]

leftbrain - I agree with MOST of your post. The glaring exception is "7) Strain failures occur quickly and catastrophically. If you can hang off it and it flexes anywhere it us not stiff enough." Physically it is impossible to build anything that will not deflect at all, even mintely. But more importan is that one cannot build a bimini frame or davits that will not deflect measurably when 240# me hangs from it without either excessively depleting my wallet or greatly adversely affecting the sailing and motoring qualities..

[Badsanta]

This is my set up.

Davits and solar pannels.jpg Views: 485 Size: 7.9 KB " style="margin: 2px" />

[gathem]

Originally Posted by Badsanta

This is my set up.

Attachment 100897

Attachment 100898

That is a pretty sweet setup. That is roughly what I want to build.

[gathem]

More photos: http://imgur.com/a/3UzVu .

Turns out they fit perfectly side by side. This allowed me to buy some Bimini hardware and make a frame over my Bimini. It's not rigid enough to climb on but they aren't going to blow off.