MacGregorSailors.com

Hi guys
I've recently bought two Unisolar US64W Solar panels and need to find somewhere to fit them when cruising Shark Bay next month.

As an interim solution I plan to use the 'wings on the Mac solution KayakDan proposed here but if possible I would like to hang them off the stern of the Mac as others have done.

When my 8 ft dinghy is inflated, I usually either tow it or carry it on the foredeck. Towing is okay, but it really gets in the way on the foredeck. I would prefer to hang the dinghy off the stern using davits.

If possible I'd like to combine the two functions as below: What do you guys think??

On edit: the solar panels each weigh about 9 kg, the dinghy about 33kg so all up around 51kg

Oskar

Look forward to see what you come up with.
I am in the process of making a bender to bend the stainless steel tube and then I will be making some davits for my boat

Allan

Hi Puggsy,

I have my single 40W solar panel mounted on the back of the mast carrier system with a frame and brackets welded to it. It works like a charm. If you want I can take some pictures once I get me boat back from the mods I am having done to it. There wou;ld be room for the davits as well.

Dirk

Oskar

Have you seen DaBOB's arch?
I'm copying it and going to mount solar panels on top.It helps if you can adjust panel angle instead of leaving them flat.You can generate heaps more power that way.
Is your davit assembly going to be removeable?
There's a rear projection rule that only permits limited overhang.The transport inspectors love giving out $400 fines for that one.
If your running the single axle trailer watch your weight i've seen them handing out overweight fines to ally boats on single axle trailers when i was operating roadtrains in the northwest.
Have you sailed Shark Bay before?
Interested in a trip to the Montebello Islands?

Oskar 26M, I've been playing around with similar ideas to you, one of the things I came up with is to put one of the solar panels over the driver's seat and the other over the outboard of our X, that would reduce loading on the davits when both panels are behind the arch while on the road, I'm also thinking of putting some aluminium channel above the stern berth to store both panels while trailering or while in storage, if I go down that track I would think of hinge down davit arms.

Anyone with a link to DaBOB's arch or is that this one?


Glenn

Mistral:

Yes I would like some pics of your setup if you get the opportunity.

The Mutt:
I think that the pic you posted is DaBob's arch. We hadn't really considered it but having been reminded, it might be worth a shot. It could work better than adding guy wires to support the extra weight. We like your idea for storing the panels when trailering . We also intend to take mine off and store inside when trailering and that's a great suggestion.

Keith:
We do intend the davits will be removable, but they should also fold back against the transom when not in use.
DaBobs arch should work as a solar panel mounting point too, though davits would still have to be added. We would like to have articulated panels to increase the output, but cost might defeat me.

We have a single axle trailer, but ours was upgraded to take a 2.8 tonne load. Hopefully the overhang is ok because it passed local pit inspection when it was first registered. Its worth noting that the stock trailer was overloaded with only a tiny amount of additional gear added. Ours was 2150 kg with B* all on board, versus a legal load of 1950 kg.

We like the manoeuvrability of the single axle, We're not happy with it overall. The heavy duty springs and larger wheels raises the boat and I have to half submerge the tyres on my tow vehicle before i can get the 26M off and on the trailer, = high risk to electrical connections. Finding small diameter tyres/rims that can carry the single axle load was the main problem encountered and had to go to 17" rims and high profile truck tyres to meet the load specs.

We're currently considering a few more boat bucks to convert to a lower loading dual axle.

We haven't sailed Shark Bay before but we got some great info including waypoint for entering key anchorages from a VERY helpful guy on TSP.

Depending on how Shark bay goes, we might well be interested in the Montebello Is next winter

The Mutt wrote:Anyone with a link to DaBOB's arch or is that this one?


Glenn

Yes, that's on Dãbob. It matches one of the photos here:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... ch#p159926

Quite a bit more on transom arches in that topic ... it hasn't been visited for a couple of months.

I'm still playing with the notion of an arch myself, but I want to make sure the spreaders and upper shrouds won't catch on it. Maybe I'll get the guts to order and install one of the BigAir Pylons that I discussed in that thread.

I have two 64 W unisolar pannels mounted in the back, too. I started off with only one, and it proved to be marginal for the elecric cooler. I added a second one and a third battery last soring, and now everything works great: the cooler is hummin' at night, the anchor light is shining brightly, and we have enough juice for a laptop in the cabin.

The panel brackets are mounted to the side bars, where the grills usually go. The two panels are mounted side by side on a horisontal bar. While trailering, they fit snugly in the cockpit behind the wheel, wedged with styrofoam and attached with bungee chords. They remain connected to the circuit, so we get juice into the batteries even while trailering. Putting them back onto the brackets is a two-man job though. Those suckers are heavy.

However, I do not think that the brackets would be sturdy enough to carry the panels AND a dinghy.

I'll post ome pictures when I get a chance to be around the boat

Oskar

Have you seen Western Australian Cruising book thats put out by Freo Sailing Club.
I got one from Whitworths and its full of info about our entire coastline from the Territory to SA a must have for coastal cruising.
Why did you get two 64's instead of one large 130?
My metal fabricator was telling me he has a 30watt on his camper trailer that is fully adjustable.He repositions it 3 times a day and gets more power than his mate thats got a 80 flat mounted.
Some sort of hinge on the rear crossbar of the arch with a couple of adjustable suppports would give 180 degrees of movement to the panel to maximise output

The arch shown in the photo would need a bit more structural reinforcing before it could be used to carry a dinghy but that is the concept needed with a bit more rake.

Allan

One of the ideas that passed through the grey matter was to build a permanent Binimi over the rear of the cockpit from the pedestal (behind boom) to the stern with a solar panel on each side of the center line, the davits could hinge from the rear with removable supports that would hold the davit arm horizontal when needed, a traveller could also be added to the front edge of the bimini/panel/davit tower.

Just a thought.

Glenn

While solar panels on an aft arch is a great idea, I plan to put some on my custom arch someday, I think hanging the dinghy off the back is a bad idea. In addition to the extra length, weight, and conflicts with the motor and rudders; any reasonable sized dinghy (one longer than 7'10") will stick out past the sides. This will make docking more difficult. You could never ba able to lay up beside a wall when doing things like going through locks.

These boats just don't need, nor should have, dinghys hanging off the back. I've always thought a dinghy on davits looks wrong on any sailboat (except a catamaran). That way of carrying one is a powerboat thing. I much prefer my compact air floor dinghy rolled up on the bow when under way, it is completely out of the way there and actually makes a nice seat. It inflates easily on the bow in under 10 minutes without breaking a sweat using a good foot pump and gives me a 10' long dinghy that can carry 6 people and the dogs.

March:
Some pics of your setup would be great
The cockpit trailering idea sounds but the scale drawings suggest that the panels wont fit flat in the cockpit of the

Keith:
* two panels should be more manageable for mounting and removal - the bigger panels are HEAVY
* US64W panel is amorphous, not crystalline, so they claim 20% higher efficiency and are shade resistant - I gathered that some others will stop charging if partly shaded
* amorphous are tougher, will withstand some flexing, and are lighter.
* articulating the panels would be good but at anchor the 'Mac dance' would make it very difficult to maintain any alignment

We do have the FSC Cruising book which has some good info about Shark Bay and lots of other places as well, so we're looking forward to more trips when time permits.

Glenn:
The permanent bimini idea sounds good... would it get in the way a bit when packing the boat for trailering?

Duanne:
I've seen quite a few yachts with dinghies on stern davits where I sail, although most have been bigger than the Mac. You make a good point about the overhang and that would definitely be a problem for a 10 ft dinghy. The drawings in my first post are to scale so I'm hopeful that it wont be a problem with my small dinghy

Oskar 26M wrote: Glenn:
The permanent bimini idea sounds good... would it get in the way a bit when packing the boat for trailering?

I don't know how you load your boat, (you might have a way to load over the side), we load from the stern, a permanent bimini could be made to bolt to the boat in the same spots as the arch and the sides behind the cockpit cushions, giving you a tunnel of sorts.

Glenn

Duane - if you keep feeding those kids they are going to get too big for that boat...