Solar arch - thinking out of the box

[The Mud Mouse]

We bought one this year from MPI in France as previously mentioned.
Very happy with the company and the product.

[Skipper Steen]

Try to check out https://www.balticsolararches.com/
Just ordred from the for my Oceanis 38.1

[MVDarlin]

I used stainless 1" bar stock to bolt 8 solar panels to my arch. You will need special drill bits. This material is very hard.

[John_Trusty]

Another vote for Atlantic Tower "tower in a box". We got one with our new-to-us catamaran, and the thing is better constructed that the boat! It's got huge (50+ mm) tubes and holds up six large solar panels, a 3.5 meter dinghy, and misc stuff hung on. Their site (https://www.atlantictowers.com/) has hundreds of photos of their installed work, so even if you do not buy, you may use it for ideas.

[Znightflyer]

Originally Posted by sailormed

There are marine solar arch manufacturers out there. I found several, this is one of them:

https://www.atlantictowers.com/products_sail_arch.php

no personal interest.

edit: same posting time, see now du bist in Deutschland.
You have Nautinox in Italy closer by.

I second Atlantic Towers. I have one of their

[SaltyMetals]

Depends on how far you want to go. I had mine made by two highly recommended Russian guys, Mihail & Ged (info@litrusmarine.co.uk ) based at Hamble Point Marina on the Solent, UK. I did not want a helipad of hard solar panels on the top so i have 3 x 50W flexible panels. The arch also carries the 2.80 m dinghy (even w 4hp 2T engine if nec). Plus safety stuff GSP antennas and supports the passarelle and the windgen. So it manages a lot of different things. Most leads are lead down inside the SS tubes. I then added a flexible 150W solar panel on a fixed portion of the bimini.

Cost of the 316 SS arch was about GBP 5,000 in 2016. Polished and fitted
Andrew

[Captain Puget]

These might work for you

https://martekdavits.com/product-category/davits/

They have mounting brackets for solar panels across the davits

[sv Stella Maris]

We have owned (2) cruising boats: first boat I made the arch with polished aluminium tubing and SS bimini / stanchion end caps. No new holes on the boat with that build (make specific).

Second boat has a full width deck mounted traveler. Minor spot welding was necessary, but nothing that anyone couldn’t do onboard or at any fab shop and after-mounted with strapping.

Biggest problem with solar frames trending now are the full perimeter SS tubing désigns. Rigid solar panels are SELF SUPPORTING and don’t require a frame…just support. In Grenada I saw just (3) weeks ago a 400 pound perimeter frame (not including the legs) to hold just (6) panels. The guys have no idea what they are building besides “We haven’t had any complaints.” Now the fat charter cat got even fatter…and she still has a giant genset.

Ask for an aluminium solar frame: you’re “an idiot”
Ask for anything but a man-able fishing tower of aluminium: you’re “an idiot”

Engineer-free fabricating is only worth so much…and generally must be overbuilt to account for the design ignorance.

[pas63]

I'm not sure the logistics of shipping from Canada to EU, but I have a stainless steel arch from Atkins and Hoyle. It comes in sections. I have a few pics in my photo's on here.

https://www.atkinshoyle.com/products...nd-arches.html

[j.g.evans]

I had a custom arch made from 1.5" ID AL. The manufacturer said SS would be too heavy. (My 4 bar, SS, Bimini is quite heavy.) Considerations: Plan for a lot of solar panels. Forget about wind generators. Plan for running wires. Add a groove or other means to attach a sunbrella panel from the arch to the back of the bimini for more sun and rain protection. Make it high, i.e. see under, to hoist a dinghy clear of the water for ocean passages. Provide clamping to secure the dinghy. Add a crane to hoist the dinghy motor onto a stern rail. All expensive, but, money well spent.

[Cpt Mark]

My situation is a bit different. Bimini top is 10'x10'. Supported fore by the hard dodger and aft by a targa arch. I needed to put the mainsheet up there which required a lot of research and engineering to be able to handle the loads, allow me to walk on it and provide suitable surface for solar panels. I will not waste my money on flexible panels.

I can weld and bend SS. Looked at that. Because of pandemic and supply chain issues SS is just too expensive and heavy. And as you've found out, finding high polish is difficult and obscenely expensive. You can polish it yourself. Not hard, just time consuming.

I went with a laminate product from Carbon Core. Awesome to work with. Lightweight and super strong. Making the targa arch out of it too. Comes in 2 flavors. Core material only with a scrim surface that bends easy. You need to fliberglass the strength into it. Or, by laminated sheets which are the previous product with a fiberglass/gel coated surface bonded to both sides. This significantly makes the building process easier and faster.

go here: https://www.carbon-core.com/products...els/composite/

There is a great video showing how strong and stiff this product is. To make the arch I cut 1'x8' sections. On 2 of the sections I cut about 2/3 of the way through the width about 1/4" apart. That part will now bend to the radius I want. Bend intio itself with epoxy and 406 filler. The excess will squeeze out. This is the inside of the bend so by bending it back into itself you maintain a lot of structural strength. I will wrap the arch in 1708 with west systems epoxy, 2 layers thick.

For the bimini I cut up 1 sheet of the 4'x8' to make the pieces fit together for a 10'x10' top. Carbon Core said a single layer of 6" wide fiberglass tape with polyesther should be plenty strong. I used a 3" wide, flollowed by 6" wide layers of 1708 epoxied in. Have to use epoxy as my outside temps are way too low for polyesther. The dodger has been very difficult as it is multiple compound curves etc. But is about ready to be glassed to the deck.

I have no affiliations with either of the manufacturers I wrote about. Carbon core laminate is a unique product and just awesome. If you call them, Tommy usually answers and will answer any questions you have.

[Timlich]

There is a company in France www.mpi-inox.com who make a proprietary design stainless arch with an option for davits that simply connects to existing pushpit/staunchions. They have specs for most production boat models (simply advise design, model, year etc) on file so they can make to order or can custom size for one-off designs. We have installed on our Dufour 425 and have nothing but praise for the quality and aesthetics of our version. Especially considering I was very reluctant to even add an arch in the first place!

[h2ojunke]

Have done a few arches out of material .

https://youtu.be/lAMCoumtU9A

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by double u

OT: while sometimes a 90kg dingi would have been very useful, most of the time it would have been a right royal pita

90kg dingy is pretty common standard....take a Highfield Ultralite 340 it's 48kg and lighter you cannot get this size, add a 20l tank=20kg and a Tohatsu MB 9.8 HP, the lightest 2 stroke 9.8hp in the world 26kg=94kg...and that with lighest=expensive stuff.
a 290 standard Highfield is 50kg too, a 8hp 4 stroke 26-30kg, 10l tank is 90kg too....

for arch you need to add crane Faktor 6x and then bumping going upwind against waves add 5x, so calculate with 1000kg...
that takes into account too that a heavy rain or a wave fills your dingy completely with water.

my arch was welded and fabricated by 2 brothers normally welding hospital beds and furniture. The welding quality was outstanding, you just have to give them knowledge what additional forces happen on a boat. and they were not spoiled by marine premiums. paid 2000Euro for a massive arch plus a sailing weekend with his family, well it tuned into a full week and we got friends.

[CaptainRivet]

another idea is just partly fabricate it/2 Step approch: means you get the 2 main pipes and let a company bend them to the U-shape you need and weld foot plates on. For top you let a company weld the frame for the solar panels or use 25mm pipes and mount it with stantion L and Ts, put/mount solar panels onto the frame. Then you can through bold the frame to the main U giving them the distance you need. Same you do with the bracing.
Like this you can use it and search for a welder that can come for 1/2 day to your boat and weld the through bolded connection solid.

thats my approch now as everything is outbook at the moment but I can get my arch on. I will fabricate the top frame for solar panels myself using the 25mm pipes and L/T. stantion piece but modify them, I will add another clamping screw (just drill and put thread in) and additionally through bold. That makes it very ridged. and will then sail to Gran Canaria where my 2 welding brother (from the old boat, see above) will weld everything together with perfect quality and a reasonable price. During the sail i will leave outboard away so only 50kg dingy is hanging on the arch....