Desigining & building a solar hot water panel rack

[Daox]

I've started designing the rack for mounting my solar hot water panels I picked up with Bennelson last fall. I've tenatively set it up at 70 degree tilt which is optimized for winter collection since I plan on using the panels for space heating as well as domestic hot water heating. I am also designing the racks about 5ft in the air. This improves winter heating since my house will block the sun in the morning during the colder months. I've also left 6 inches between the panels for making connections. I'm not sure how normal collectors are put together, but I think they're just soldered directly to each other. Rubber hose with clamps seems like it might be easier to do.

One problem I am seeing is that at 70 degree tilt, the spacing between my risers is quite short. The distance from the one end to the other is only about two feet. This leaves me with some reservations about wind loads and the panels. However, I am going through the calculations and I'll see what is needed to make this happen.

Here is an image of what I have drawn up so far. The blue top plane represents ground level. There is still lots to do with it.