I struggled with deck space for even a small solar panel. Then I started noticing that similar old boats were using panels as portable chargers. I've seen them strapped on lazarettes and house tops.
Here's a typical example of a couple of good sized panels lashed over a skylight, temporarily. This boat has a real charging hog, a Torqueedo. For most with Torqueedo's in typical coastal cruising use, this set up could easily sustain the power needs.
My son uses a 'solar generator' (as I jokingly refer to it) on his dollar boat to run a large laptop if he works remotely out in the harbor. It comes out just for point charging as it's too big to leave on deck(stores below when not needed).
So I took a solar baby step this season and simply put some lashings on a small (10 watt) with a controller (my son thinks my panel is hysterical,...). Thinking what I'm always lacking is the last 10% of charge of a small house (2-grp 27), because we rarely do that multi hour run the diesel.
The trickle charge runs a week, sometimes 2, between use of the boat, all season. It did just what I hoped and kept the bank topped off between use.
But surprisingly (to me), even off sailing the coast for several weeks, it helped keep up with our minimal use (no refrigeration). I thought I'd take it off when sailing but in fact it wasn't in the way, so it stayed (I had to remember to remove the lashing on the mainsheet,...)
I left enough wire on it to move it around on the house top for full sun at anchor, if I felt like.
The first thing I noticed is, even after several days at anchor or on a mooring, I never saw the alternator above a minimal charging load(easy on belts and running time). We could sail even more of our miles without charging worries.
I can see now that I'll find a spot to lash a slightly larger panel next season, likely about 30 watts (probably in the same spot). I suspect that may sustain us at anchor, indefinitely. Amazing!
