More engineering needed on the solar panel mounts

 More engineering must happen on the solar panel (SP) mounts. We replaced the flat aluminum bar with a SS 1” tube and it worked great. It is really sturdy and looks good even though you will not see it. We will add end caps when done. We like this setup so much that we will do the stern mount of the 85 watt SP the same way after we determine how much SS 1” tubing we have left. We still need to mount the wind generator and need to two pieces of 1” SS tubing for the stays.

Before the middle panel it was sagging on the front mount

 

Cut tubing

Not sagging now!

 The problem now is clearance. The two cross pieces of 1” SS tubing that hold the panels up over the bimini are just about the same height as the bows that hold the bimini. 

The SP ones are crossing the bimini where the fabric is sagging a bit making it possible to be the same height. This changed with the middle panel. Now there is not enough clearance. We probably should raise it any way but now it is a must. The whole grid will need to come up about two inches. Sounds worse than it is. We will curt four new uprights two inches longer for the corners and it will get raised two inches.

Bimini SS bar is same height as SP bar

Lower than it looks

The panels are nice and even