I consider owning and living aboard deLight an enforced hobby. Salt air and UV eats anything man-made so fixing things is a continual task. There are the things that I want to do to make the experience better. Originally, deLight had a fabric dodger and an awning over the cockpit. The visibility from the helm was abysmal leading to docking by braille occasionally. The awning was functional but less than ideal. I needed an alternate power source to charge my batteries and power the boat.
I decided to combine all of these into a major project. Fortunately, since Tunisia lacks exports to generate foreign exchange, they fix everything. I have latched onto a machinist, welder, artisan to help with my projects. We built a windscreen with complete cockpit cover from stainless steel and polycarbonate. The cover of the windscreen and cockpit was constructed as a hollow structure with provisions to install the solar modules. I am happy with the result and helm visibility is fantastic.
So, it is all built and wired for the planned modules - my current snag. Needless to say, starting over with a different design is something I would not care to do. Also, commercial panels are glass covered and I would hate to face a disaster with glass shards in the cockpit. (I do not want any glass on the boat during a crossing.)
I will continue with my testing. Theoretically, the Schotkty diodes will isolate the broken cells and I will be able to verify my wiring and test the charge controllers. And at least, I can test the effectiveness of my weather proofing by blasting the cockpit cover with a pressure washer without worrying about damaging the cells.
I will construct some test modules of various materials and rigorously test them before building 100+ of them. I make mistakes but generally learn from them.
Max