[IsleVegan]

Aloha,

I have been exploring various possibilities for constructing an arch to hold solar panels and a wind powered generator over the cockpit of a 1968 Columbia 36' sailboat.

What do you think of 1.5 - 2 inch PVC pipe abraded on the outside then layered with fiber, such as kevlar for abrasion resistance? I've wondered about the sun tolerance of kevlar and I get the impression that carbon fiber does not do so well with abrasion, so perhaps a carbon, kevlar alternating layer?

I found this epoxy made for PVC - neopoxy.us/adhesives

Your comments are appreciated.

 

[sww914]

It might work as long as you use enough kevlar/ carbon fiber/ epoxy that you don't need any PVC anymore. Using PVC pipe as a structure in my mind is about as good as using cellophane for windows.
PVC in 75 knot winds? I don't think it would survive.
I thin you'd be better off to buy a tig welder and a tubing bender and learn to make things out of stainless steel. I know you can mig stainless but the welds don't look as nice and they're weaker.

 

[sailingdog]

If you're going to build the arch to support solar panels that's one thing, but building it to support a wind gen is a different story. The loads on a wind gen are a lot higher than on solar panels IMHO.

Building it of kevlar/carbon fiber is going to get expensive fast... and building it of stainless steel might be cheaper in the long run.

2" stainless steel tubing or building a ladder-frame out of 1.5" stainless steel tubing, would certainly give you an arch that was capable of supporting solar panels and a wind gen.

However, mounting the solar panels on top of the dodger and/or bimini might be a better option, since you have an existing framework to work with. Then you could mount the wind gen on its own pole as far aft as possible, to keep the rotating blades as far from people as possible.

You don't say what wind gen you're looking at installing. Some have a fairly large blade/rotor diameter, almost 2 meters, and as such need to have a pole at least 10' tall IMHO so the blades don't present a serious danger to crew in the cockpit.

 

[Freesail99]

While this isn't an arch, it is a very smart idea on how to solve the problem of getting on and off the dinky if you have solar panels on your davit.

It is really worth a look. Account Login » SailMonster

 

[merc2dogs]

Free sail, is there any way to check that out without signing up?

Might be a great site, but I have an aversion to signing up for a site that won't let you browse.

Ken.

 

[Freesail99]

merc2dods, I had not idea you couldn't check out the link. It is a nice web site.

 

[SAILMONSTER]

Free sail, is there any way to check that out without signing up?

Might be a great site, but I have an aversion to signing up for a site that won't let you browse.

Ken.

Hi Ken, I made the site a member site to keep out and control spam. Open forums tend to get bombarded with spam. You can browse, most of our site as well. Thanks for the mention Free Sail