Sept 2022, Best Practice for solar on cloth bimini

[jbinbi]

I have been reading this thread for years. I had a cat 7 years ago that I build an alum frame that went on top of my davits, specifically sized to hold 2 285 W panels. Great solution.

Fast forward 7 years, I no longer have that boat. But am looking for the most solar I can get onto my bimini/dodger. Can't use rigid panels as there is not enough room to clear the boom. (Though I might work with sailmaker to reduce height a few inches, I think that might be all I need, but then then it might be at eye level and a PITA to sail with).

1. What is currently the best way to mount a flexible panel to a SS frame bimini?

2. What is currently the panel with the most W/sq ft (or whatever metric you want, power/size)? Manufacturer/type

Would hopefully get at least 2 panels if not more on there.

Wondering if this should be a sticky like the 1st thread in this section. Thanks.

[gwalker]

We used three SunPower 170watt flexible panels on our bimini. Not sure if best practice but we used 36 super magnets at 12 different points on the panel, two on bottom and one bolted to the panel at each location. This allows us to remove relatively easily if the winds start getting beyond my comfort level, so far ~35knts. We glued same panels to our brow but the curvature caused several of the hold-downs to come lose so we just screwed into the fibreglass.

[HeinSdL]

Velcro works fine

[capt jgw]

If you're mounting the panels on a regular canvas bimini like Sunbrella, Sailrite has a video on thier way of doing it. On YouTube. Flexible panels need some sort of fairly rigid support underneath. They're not really flexible, they can take a slight bend once or twice. If they flex repeatedly, they crack. Flapping in the wind would ruin them very quickly. Mounting just to the metal frame would likely not be rigid enough with the space between frames. A tight bimini works.

[jbinbi]

@gwalker, thanks. Never thought of magnets. Thought of velcro, but wasn't sure how well it would hold, assuming you would have to sew the strips, and you would have to mark them off when bimini is up, then sew when off. Was wondering about the grommets used on sail covers or dodgers with either the twist or snaps.

@capt jgw, I thought the sunpower/solbain/renogy showed that they can bend or roll quite a bit?

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

They're not really flexible, they can take a slight bend once or twice. If they flex repeatedly, they crack. Flapping in the wind would ruin them very quickly..

I think that’s the critical point. A friend just remarked that he put flex panels on his Bimini, and now with the flexing the output is drastically reduced. They need to be mounted an an inflexible surface