The Lame Goat

Looks good - can you detail what you have here? Thanks, M

Wow. Very nice and thanks for the photo. I may well go with this approach (still considering various options). What size are your panels? Did you slide the panel into the backets after fixing? - wondering how feasible with a large panel (say 2m x 1m) Thanks for offer of drawings - will be in touch if I decide to take this approach. I'm glad to hear of your success with Rivnuts. The other thread contains a scarey cautionary post about this, so as I'm not experienced wonder if you already had expertise, had any problems etc? What roof thickness - any problem sourcing rivnuts with large enough grip range? For over mushroom solution I'm also considering building a top box with panel as lid so not sure yet if I'll use brackets & rivnuts. Mark

Thanks Julynian - I saw this (or something almost identical) on another thread some while ago. It looks ingenious and very effective for moving the panel, though unless you auto track I don't think tilting is worth it (only 10% more than flat mounting apparently). Auto tracking would be more effective and could probably be added to your setup using linear activators and some purpose built controllers I saw from the states at about $28. However, for me, using bigger panels should do the trick and be a lot simpler/more reliable! How does your system cope in the wind? I would think that relying on weight alone is not good enough. You could probably fit some magnets under the box, but would need a way to hold the panel down as I assume the ball is just resting in place. It does look great! Good luck with it. BTW your location says Dorset DT6 but there are no canals there! You marooned? :-) Mark

Hi fellow fasteners, I'm planning a self-install solar system and the most challenging bit for me is the mechanical fixing. I'm using framed panels and need them to sit above the mushroom vents, fixed in a horizontal position, above my 4mm curved steel roof. I've seen panels mounted using quite strudy aluminum extrusion for brackets, which seem like the best option if I can find something suitable, any ideas? But my main question is how to fix the brackets to the roof, given I don't want to take the ceiling down and will only have access from the outside. My first thought is to drill and tap some holes and use aluminium bolts. Any thoughts on this? Have you seen this done or tried it, and did you use stainless steel bolts? What size? Any tips for tapping - I last did this at school which is some decades ago :-) ? I also wondered about using adhesive - any experience or thoughts on that? What kind? Also, one boat I saw had a neoprene layer between its roof and brackets which I think would be a good idea to reduce vibration. Any thoughts on that, what to use and where to get the material? Any other thoughts or experiences (or links to relevant threads) welcome. The panels themselves may be anything from 60cm x 110cm to 100cm x 160 cm - undecided as yet. For info I have found the thread "bolts into my cabin roof" from which I take the best options to be: 1. use clamping magnets as feet bolted to a rigid frame (panel being top horizontal edge). I really like this so have ordered a magnet to do some testing. 2. Sikaflex 512 to stick the brackets down - avoids holes, messy, probably using rigid frame as in 1) 3. M4 stainless set screws into tapped holes - seems good, but does involve holes in roof Assuming 1 or 2, any ideas for what to buy (and where) to make the frame (I guess extreded aluminium). Is it easy / cost effective to have something like that made up? Thanks for any helpful input you can provide. Mark

I have a Surecal dual coil calorifer with one coil connected to my engine, and the other blanked off. I also have two radiators connected to the back boiler of my coalbrookdale duel fuel stove - this is gravity fed. My question is whether to use the spare coil and hook it up to the boiler feed, and if so how. I suspect gravity won't work its magic throug the calorifier... ...so I envisage taking a loop from the hot side of the last radiator through a pump through the calorifier and back to the cold side of the last radiator. Has anyone done anything like this - if so, what and how? Anyone got any comments on my scheme or better ideas? I don't mind the last radiator losing some heat when the pump is running, and I'll only run it when I want to heat up the calorifier anyway. But might there be any issues with the boiler when a pump is attached, as obviously this will increase the flow? Thanks, Mark

Wow, what a fantastic load of helpful responses! I think the screws may be plated so I'm going to assume that and try replacing them with some new screws as I think that will be easier than pop rivets, but we'll see after I've done a trial! Thank you very much!

I bought my boat on a good survey a few weeks ago. One of the main things the surveyor pointed out was that the stainless steel screws securing the windows were rusting and should be replaced before they become too corroded to unscrew. Some are clean and shiny, some very rusted, one head has come off. He recommended replacing them all with aluminium pop rivets as these last well and are easy to drill out. Can stainless steel screws rust in this situation, and if so what advice do you have for remedies here? The windows all seem fine so I don't want to remove them all prematurely if I can avoid it. For the moment I've just sprayed them with WD40 and taken one out to look at. It is 1 1/4" self tapping and I'm skeptical that it is stainless - maybe galvanised? I know nothing about boats or screw materials so any comments welcome, particularly... Would simply replacing these screws would be adequate? If so, what with? Thanks