Solar grid\Back stays


 OK we or I am not satisfied with the solar grid on top of the bimini. It seems it could be a little tipsy in heavy seas in and a windy day out sailing. We have not gotten the final two supports on it (just found the hard ware in the back of my Jeep) but they will not solve what I may be creating as a problem.



 The two back stays seem a perfect solution. They are heavy cables and are perfect for holding the grid in place. The grid does flex a bit so that will give it some flexibility with the back stays (BS) movement.

 The other solutions we were looking at was to install some stays to the cockpit comings from the grid. We could use wire and that would be less obtrusive. That would still be more of a cage feeling.

 The idea here is to use the existing back stays as the preventer if you will. The thought is to use a heavy walled PVC pipe so if there is chafe the PVC will loose not the back stays. We can cut slots into the PVC pipe for the back stays to be inserted and then bolt the PVC pipe to the solar panels (SP). This will prevent the SP from moving side to side and also to the stern. Because there is a slit for the BS they would move forward. This could be prevent if need be by using hose clamps to attach a next sized up PVC pipe to cover the slits.

 As soon as the refer is working we will embark on this engineering feat!

No comments:

Post a Comment