A-Frame to Mount Wind Generator and Solar Panels

[Abrain]

I need to make a mount for our large solar panels and wondered if anyone has considered using copper tubing. It's very easy to braze and its easy to cut and bend. Is this going to a be a bad idea for reasons I can't think of right now? I can buy elbows, flanges and all sorts of items pre-made to make it simpler to fab while living on a boat.

[Pete7]

Well, it will go a pretty green colour in quick time, it has all the strength of cooked spagetti and it will love being bolted to your Ali strips on the edge of the deck.

Whilst Stainless Steel is a shocking price and not easy to work, I did have a large A frame made up for a previous Rib which held a 6 man liferaft. Made in 2" Ali tube it could be esaily lifted up on board by one person when the boat was on a trailer. The firm used an ali tube suitable for marine use so limiting the corrosion potential and it just went a dull grey colour over time, no furry white stuff that sometimes appears on aliminium.

The only place for copper is in the antifouling paint and the bottom of pans.

Pete

[Pete7]

In this country you can buy 1 and 1.5" galv steel pipe for use in gardens to hold netting off fruit plants. Comes with elbows and joiners too. doesn't look a good as S/S but its a fraction of the price.

Linky

Pete

[senormechanico]

The above video says it all.
They are SOLAR cells, not partial shade cells.

imho unless you're in the Caribbean or similar where it blows most of the time, solar beats a wind generator hands down.
No noise, vibration, danger of tangling fishing or other lines etc, and cockpit shade via an arch.

It will be interesting to see what Witzgall's temporary mounting results show.
We went through the same on our previous boat, finally chopping off an expensive wind generator pole.
The results were as I suspected, we were electrically AHEAD without the wind generator.

[KonsortDUO]

Hey SecondBase, curious if you still have the Konsort DUO since I have some questions about that model?? LMK at your convenience SecondBase.

[KonsortDUO]

SecondBase, was wondering if you still had the Konsort Duo since I am curious about this model and have some questions. Thanks for any info, Cheers.

[odonnellryan]

Not worth it when you can find arches for around $1k or so... picked mine up for $1.2k I think at Atlantic Arches? But I drove there so no shipping. Aluminum, will rip off my deck before it fails I think.