How thick are your backstays, anyway? I'd expect the shadow of a wire to be a small part of any cell it crosses, and an even smaller part of the entire panel. You don't want to shade a whole cell in a series configuration, but a wire's shadow shouldn't affect too much. The mast, maybe, but not so much a stay.
(I have twin backstays, but the panels are mounted on the arch aft of them. They're between a WiFi antenna, HF antenna (longwire from the arch-mounted tuner to the masthead) and a HF-DSC whip on the other side. Except for the WiFi and its mounting post (originally intended for a Wind Generator, hence the size), the others are all pretty thin shadows.
Or just keep the boat's stern toward the sun and voila, no shading!
(I have twin backstays, but the panels are mounted on the arch aft of them. They're between a WiFi antenna, HF antenna (longwire from the arch-mounted tuner to the masthead) and a HF-DSC whip on the other side. Except for the WiFi and its mounting post (originally intended for a Wind Generator, hence the size), the others are all pretty thin shadows.
Or just keep the boat's stern toward the sun and voila, no shading!
