Solar Panel Mounting Material

H

Happy Place

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
95
Fluid Motion Model
C-302 SC
Vessel Name
Happy Place
I am considering a simple framework of mahogany 1" x 4"'s to mount my 4 100 watt panels to the cockpit roof of my 2014 R31 CB.

Mounting this way means I will only have to drill 4 holes (total) in the hardtop to attach the frames and using mahogany versus square aluminum tubing will save roughly $350 in materials.

Any thoughts guys? Would you treat the mahogany? Thinking of a few coats of spar varnish...
 
wouldnt teak be better for the marine environment due to its natural oils preventing rot?
 
Not to confuse the issue but you might consider “Starboard”, marine vinyl and you can purchase it in various colors.

Jim F
 
Mr. Happy, Mahogany and varnish are not the best choice for salt water environment and direct sun light, and after some time in those elements you will not be happy with the look of your upgrade!
If you like the look of wood and want the durability of starboard, you could use a composite decking material, found at most lumber suppliers or decking companies. Just my thoughts! Bob
 
I used 30x30 t-slot aluminum extrusion for mounting my solar panels to my sports rack. Using it allowed me to exactly position my solar panel using the solar panels mounting points. The 30x30 size was plenty stiff for my purpose but they also make larger sizes (eg. 40x40 or 30x60 etc)
In bulk it’s not that expensive. Pieces can be bolted together to get an infinite amount of angles, widths and so forth.
Here’s an example of what it looks like:
https://www.framingtech.com/30-x-30-30x306m

You can get it custom cut to the lengths you need and shipping in one batch is not that expensive.
Just an option to consider!

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I would use extruded aluminum and Stainless Steal fasteners. No future dealing with wood and stronger than Star board. More time for drinking beer.
 
So, a question about using 4 x 100 watt solar panels. That’s a lot of area.
Why not use 2 x 200 watt panels or just one 400 watt panel?
I’d try some local solar installers and see if you could get a 400 watt panel at a reasonable price. Much simpler install with only one panel.
Example: Highly rated Mission Solar 385 Watt panel with 25 year warranty at 78.7" x 39.68" x 1.58" size for $260 plus $200 shipping for a single panel. Getting it, or something like it, from a local installer might save a lot on the shipping costs.
Or two Newpowa 210 Watt panels from Amazon for $399 delivered. Size each is 64.6” by 26.6” by 1.4” thick. Two Newpowa panels close to each other would be about 64.6” by 54”.
 
You guys ROCK! One of the big selling points for my Ranger was no exterior wood to worry about.....what was I thinking? Add to that I'm in the metals business and the answer is obvious.
 
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