The "ARCH"

The arch has been a work in progress since April, 2010 - actually before that. 

This is what JonNe' looked like before we added the solar panel to assist Mother Earth.

Renne' and I feel strongly about using as much natural energy as possible (that is why we own a sailboat), so our solar panel was born.

You can actually see the solar panel hanging on the stern pulpit (white with black frame).  Efficient, but not attractive, and damaged the stainless steel, so not acceptable.

We were also interested in taking advantage of the winds, so we began to work on how we were going to add a wind generator aboard and get it up high enough to really work and not be dangerous to the crew.


So I began to look for options available for an arch.  I contacted my friend, Terry Emigh, in Anacortes, Washington about a design he had created for his own Tayana 42 Center Cockpit, and that was in July of 2009.  I was actually able to put everything together (convince Renne' this would be a good idea, buy the plans, find someone who would build it at a reasonable price, etc.) in April.  After looking at the options of stainless steel, I realized the only option was Aluminum (weight, price).

I found my builder, Daniel Martinez (MTZ Welding Co. 832-273-3168) as he was replacing the aluminum railings around the marina after Hurricane Ike, and he has done an amazing job!

This is the arch after bolting it into place on the stern.

Notice the davit lowers with the dinghy attached to lower the dinghy to the water.  The advantage here is our ability to walk out on the davits and enter the dinghy from above.  It will also act as a boarding ladder from a dock if there is no finger pier along side the boat.

So, finally, we were able to put it all together the week before Christmas and this is how she looks today all dressed up with solar panel, wind generator, dinghy, and new antenna.

So Voila', JonNe' has the latest in solar and wind energy, renewing the charge on her batteries.  We are now using Mother Earth as we should be!