Our old stern panels were a whopping 50W each. One of them died and we decided that instead of replacing, we should upgrade to 150W each!
Going up in size three fold has its challenges. The panels are much larger but the strength of the panel isn’t. I needed to reinforce the panel with a wooden X and supply support struts to both sides of the panel.
Wind isn’t as big of a concern to the panels, but water sure is. High winds will present a lot of force on the panels, but a wave will impart many times that amount of energy and with no yielding. The plan is to avoid sailing in heavy weather and plan our ocean crossings for times when the winds (and seas) are not extreme. In heavy weather, the panels can be secured down to prevent damage to the boat, but the plan is to avoid those situations all together.
