Anyone running solar on a narrowboat with a trad stern — where on earth did you mount the panels?

Got a shepherd's hut so I know a thing or two about awkward roof shapes, but a narrowboat trad stern is something else entirely — the cratch cover eats half your usable space and the rest is either someone's head or the tiller.

Currently eyeing up a couple of Renogy 175W flexi panels for a mate's 57ft trad, thinking they'd follow the cabin roof curve nicely, but the shading from that back cabin cratch frame is a nightmare to work around. Running a Victron MPPT 100/30 which should handle whatever we throw at it.

Has anyone actually got decent wattage out of a trad stern setup, or are you all just permanently on the hook-up at the marina pretending it's off-grid?

Not a narrowboat owner myself, but I've been researching this pretty heavily because I'm considering a liveaboard setup down the line.

From what I've gathered, a lot of trad stern owners end up going flexible panels bonded directly to the cabin roof rather than rigid framed ones — loses you some efficiency but avoids the height/bridge clearance nightmare.

A few questions though, @PikeGazer:

• What's your typical mooring situation — mostly static or continuous cruising?
• Are you constrained by a specific wattage target, or is this more about getting something running?

I'd imagine the cable routing through a trad stern to a Victron MPPT is its own headache too. Curious whether anyone's managed decent output without tilting — on my garden office I found fixed flat panels lost maybe 20-25% vs optimally angled, which might be acceptable on a boat depending on your loads.

Lefty25 | 47 posts

@PikeGazer the trad stern really is a nightmare compared to a cruiser stern — I ended up going with a pair of 100W flexible panels stuck directly onto the cabin roof sides, angled slightly rather than flat, which at least catches some low winter sun. The stern deck itself is basically a write-off for panels unless you fancy tripping over them every five minutes while you're steering.

One thing worth looking at is a compact tilting frame mounted just forward of the cratch — keeps it out of the working area and you can adjust the angle seasonally. A few boats I've seen at Braunston had this setup and it looked surprisingly tidy.

What's your battery bank situation? That'll probably dictate how many panels you actually need to squeeze on there.

NickThompson65 | 203 posts

@PikeGazer had exactly this battle last year on our 58-footer. Ended up running two 200W panels on a custom mild steel frame bolted to the cabin roof, angled slightly towards the stern to compensate for the trad layout eating into the rear. The real game-changer though was adding a smaller 100W flexible panel along the offside cabin top edge — catches the morning sun brilliantly when you're moored up facing east.

Worth speaking to a local fabricator rather than off-the-shelf mounts — mine knocked something up for about £180 that fits the roofline perfectly and doesn't foul the tiller when you're winding.

Also don't overlook the cratch itself if yours has a solid board rather than just fabric — decent south-facing real estate that most people completely ignore. Just mind the shade from the cover frame.

BatteryMark | 89 posts

Not on a narrowboat myself but I do follow this closely — my garden office setup taught me that awkward mounting angles kill your yield far more than panel size does.

One thing I've not seen mentioned: have you looked at flexible panels along the cabin roof sides? Firms like Renogy do decent semi-flex options that'll conform to a slight curve. Won't win any efficiency awards but on a trad stern where rigid panels are fighting for every inch, getting something flat and south-facing beats a perfectly-specced panel at 40° off angle.

Also worth thinking about a small Victron MPPT that handles multiple separate strings — means you can feed in from oddly-positioned panels without one shaded panel dragging the whole array down.