Dock Mounted Solar Panel

Dock Mounted Solar Panel Plugs in to Boat.

To lower my mast on our day sailor I had to remove the solar panels and frame on the back of the boat. I have to say I like the looks of the boat better without the panels, but I liked the solar panels for keeping the batteries charged. 

It was going to take a lot of work to put them back on the boat, and I tried to come up with a better mounting setup that would be functional, look nice and not cost me a chunk of money. The panels were just sitting dock side and I thought to myself that I was wasting the power as I was looking at them. I thought I should get a battery out and hook it up.

That line of thought took me to “why not mount them on the dock and put a box next to it to charge the batteries in.” Then I thought why bring the heavy batteries to it, run a line to the batteries and that way I would not have to unhook them all the time and move them. I had the wiring in the boat already set up for the panels; I just had to put a plug in the line.

I used a much larger line from the panels to the boat than what was needed so there would be less voltage drop from the line. So far it is working OK, I just plug in the boat when I get back to the dock.

I put an easy on off switch next to the batteries that disconnects the boat batteries from the boat electronics. I can just throw the switch when I plug and unplug the panel line and activate the boat electronics only when I go sailing. It is a redundant circuit, but it is a safety circuit that is easy and convenient to use. If it is not convenient it will not be used.

There are now flexible solar panels that can be installed curved surfaces and I may use them on the boat down the road. They would be both functional and unobtrusive. They can now be mounted on a soft canvas Dodger or Bimini.