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CookiesnTequila · 20-10-2016, 08:09

I'm looking for someone qualified to design, and create fabrication diagrams for, a fairly straight forward solar panel arch for our Catana 50 catamaran.

We just had a good SS yard tell us that they have a bit of a work shortage and are therefore able to make us a very good deal on SS fabrication work, if we can be there fairly soon. I trust their fabrication abilities completely, but not so sure about their design/engineering ability. So I prefer to use a experienced, qualified professional.

Please private message me if this is something you might be interested in.

Cheers

sy_gilana · 20-10-2016, 08:27

Hi, A friend of mine put 4 x 1.6x1 m panels on the saloon roof, lying inside teak rails. A bunch more were added to the dinghy davits, by creating a "table" with 4 legs that stood on the top of the davits. Another set of panels on top of that.
On the Catana 50 I would not do an Arch, it will ruin the lines of the boat, IMHO.

CookiesnTequila · 28-10-2016, 00:21

Agreed to the arch ruining the lines! But energy over beauty!

We have a small array (4 x 80W) panels mounted on top of our davits now, but want to remove the weight and make it much bigger. I am thinking another "davit" style mount (so not really an arch), with the bracket down as close to the top of the dinghy as possible. I also want to have it hold a kayak as well. So the total weight will be just over 100kg.

Just need a bit of structural help!

UNCIVILIZED · 28-10-2016, 02:11

I'm a fan of the composite arches on Schionning cats. It's a much, much cleaner & integrated look. Not to mention far better aerodynamically. Are you in a hurry? If not you could see about getting one of these drawn for you.

And is there not sufficient roof on the cabin top for enough panels? I can't imagine that there isn't. Mounting them up there simply means that you have to haul your boom forward when anchored so that there's little shadowing. And since there's so much real estate on a cat already, you can optimize your panel placement to minimize this anyway. It certainly worked on my open wing trimaran, so that my panels only got shadowed if I was being supremely lazy.

I'd just hate to see you add so much parasitic drag to a boat with such clean & pretty lines. You could tell the teenager to turn down the stereo to cut down on power draw

Edit: I forgot to mention it, but with composite arches, you can have them designed & built so that the panels are recessed right into them. So, virtually zero drag.

And of course stainless arches can be skinned over for lower drag. Or even fair them, prior to adding skins/add faired skins. I don't know why no one does this? They surely would look 1,000% better.

PS: Love your user name. Have always been too chicken to try it out in real life though. Oreos would be hilarous for a while, early on... & then possibly very messy

simeline · 28-10-2016, 02:21

2 boats are in bad situation in Vonitsa Greece ssr 152693 and a boat name angusta of London
The wind is still heavy
Edgar

TeddyDiver · 28-10-2016, 02:33

^^ what UNCIVILIZED says about composite arch. It's also easier to integrate to the hull with unidirectional laminates without the need of reinforcements and backing plates in unaccessible places.
How wide you planned to have? From the outside or inside of the hull? Any competent engineer could do the engineering, but if you get a NA to do it with a reasonable price just go for it..

BR Teddy

CookiesnTequila · 28-10-2016, 13:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

I'm a fan of the composite arches on Schionning cats. It's a much, much cleaner & integrated look. Not to mention far better aerodynamically. Are you in a hurry? If not you could see about getting one of these drawn for you. ......

......PS: Love your user name. Have always been too chicken to try it out in real life though. Oreos would be hilarous for a while, early on... & then possibly very messy

If we had time and were confident that we could find concomitant fabricators in Greece - I agree! But we live aboard,, and are booked into Crete for the winter - no one there for sure. Bottom line, we don't have the time. Our existing 4 panels are in an aluminum frame on top of our davits. They don't look bad, but I don't like the weight on there and I want more energy production.

We will have 800w on the bimini and 900w on the back. There's just two of us, but we hate running a generator if we can avoid it! environment over aesthetics...

to the cookies! Tequila goes with anything!!

CookiesnTequila · 28-10-2016, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

^^ what UNCIVILIZED says about composite arch. It's also easier to integrate to the hull with unidirectional laminates without the need of reinforcements and backing plates in unaccessible places.
How wide you planned to have? From the outside or inside of the hull? Any competent engineer could do the engineering, but if you get a NA to do it with a reasonable price just go for it..

BR Teddy

There is good access beside the existing davits, which go through and are mounted inside the hull. I'm thinking to keep it simple and mount on the outside with good sized backing plates on the inside.

A NA is exactly what I was hoping to find with this post!!