Not wanting to unearth old threads, but I figured it'd be nice to report the conclusion of the
solar arch project.
In short:
As our to do list became overwhelming, we had to go with one of the workshops regularly offering solar arches.
In our case it was a workshop called Edelstahl Haese in Berlin,
Germany. (No association whatsoever.) They welded a proper stainless 1.4404 / 316L, electropolished arch, for an acceptable 6500€ given material cost and labor. It's sailed some 2500 nm from the
baltic to the
azores with us and is performing very well so far. I added a brushed stainless 304
antenna mount to it as a quick fix for something I wanted to try, and the 304 got some rust stains within 3 weeks of harbor time, but has not worsened since. So I believe with some loving
cleaning once ever 2-4 weeks, a 304-brushed arch, would have been fine (if the extra work is accepable to you).
Long version:
I had been in touch with the workshop on and off. Finally met them on a
trade show by coincidence. They were willing to allow us to do the measurements and mounting ourselves, which shaved considerable cost off the total
price. We build a 1:1 model of the
boats stern from carbdboard and took all measurements incl. angles to their instructions. I drove the carboard model some 3h across
Germany to them and we discussed all the details. They created a drawing and I ammended it in some minor details for optics. They were good to work with, took time to listen, explained how they would do it, etc. The result is very sturdy and for the utility piece it is, rather good looking - let's perhaps call it the smallest offence on the eye possible. :-)
In the design we knowingly accepted that the arch would need additional diagonal stabilization due to the narrow placement of the feet. To achieve this, I used 4mm Dynemaa with tensioners and its working a charme, once the Dynemaa has stretched. Saves weight, easy to replace and can be removed if one has to transport bulky items under the arch. The stabilization is really only necessary in heavy seas.
My subjective view on "budget but good" self-assembly:
In the running up to the ready-made-shop version, I had spoken to another workshop who would have assembled the arch from pre-bent pipes, that can be purchased relatively easily online around the globe. Frequently, these parts are used to build handrails for staircases etc. Accordingly, a wide variety of parts is available, all sorts of bends, hinged mounts, etc.
With a bit of searching they can be found in 304 and 316 and in brushed or polished. Also consider that it will be easy and
cheap to get brushed parts and throw them into an electro polishing bath somewhere. They are small, and hence dont require a big bath. Usually cost scales with size here.
Many of the "solar arch kits" that people suggested in this thread, are based on these handrail parts as well. By my calculations, the kits are about 3-5x the cost of sourcing the parts yourself. As an orientation, my material for self assembly in Germany in 316 brushed would have cost me around 1000€ in December 2022. Your mileage may varry.
I read of multiple assembly methods. The aforementioned kits rely on bolth-through or glue + bolth-through assembly. The workshop would have welded them together. I believe both is equivalent but the non-weld assembly allows modification, paid for by more
cleaning effort with all the crevices and bolts. The grub screw only assembly seems to be inadequate, I personally wouldnt trust it.
I hope this is useful to someone in the same situation. Feel free to reach out if I can be of any help!
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