Solar Panel mounts

[ErrabundusBus]

So I'm thinking of putting a rail system on top of my bus to mount solar panels on. I plan on making the rail system long enough so I can add a panel as money becomes available. The question that I have is for the people who have done this already. Did you bolt them down solid or did you use some kind of rubber mount to allow for vibration/expansion of the panels? I was thinking of using snowmobile engine mounts to each of the panels. Another idea was to use engine mounts (from Merkur XR4Tis that I have laying around) to mount the actual rails down. Am I overthinking this?

 

[bansil]

I will say this: you can never over build or over think any thing

I don't think our buses flex front to rear (like a banana), now side to rear (torsional they do, regardless of make, if it's a body mounted to a frame it will twist) I have been parked really flexed out, body level and have noticed bedroom door may not close due to gap at latch or be so tight it wont close because door doesn't fit into frame

Now I also have the door mounted at the worst place you could do it, right above the front leaf spring mounts, this is where the most twist is present other than directly between forward rear mount and the rear front spring mount

So I make sure not to have rigid mounts on my panels, they may look rigid, but are made from 5052 alum and have no 90* stiffining...makes sense?

you idea is sound

 

[claydbal]

i plan to use harley iso mounts for my solar.