Don't put all your solar panels in one place.
On a yacht, single-location arrays look clean in the brochure — until your boom shadow eats half the panel at 2pm, or you anchor with the sun on the wrong quarter.
The fix isn't a bigger array. It's distribution.
Split panels across multiple mounts — bimini + arch + deck rails — and wire them in parallel rather than series. In series, the most-shaded panel drags the rest down; in parallel, each panel pulls its weight independently. So whatever way you're swinging on the hook or heeling under sail, something is in the sun.
Tradeoff worth naming: peak output drops. A single full-sun monocrystalline panel oriented dead-perfect outproduces a distributed setup at solar noon. But peak isn't the number you live by on a boat — average daily harvest is. Distribution + parallel wiring keeps the average up across the conditions you actually encounter.
We plan the layout against your cruising patterns and slip orientation — not whatever fits the deck — and size the MPPT controllers and DC wiring to match.