if you're going to put a panel on the dodger or in place of the bimini you might be better off installing multiple smaller panels and wiring them in parallel instead of series. If you chose a large solar panel as you noted, you want to make very sure that it has internal diodes that will allow it to produce power when partially shaded.
These internal diode panels run their diodes in strings to the cells. What that means is that the orientation of the panel is important. If you mostly have shadows passing fore-aft or mostly have shadows passing side to side, there WILL be a superior orientation for the panel. In the case of a dodger/bimini install you would expect the boom to shade the panel often so the superior for-aft orientation would be prefered.
On our boat (SUNDOWNER), we have rigid life lines from the back most stanchion near the scupper to the boom gallows. On either side the panels are then mounted to this rigid life line and can fold up or down depending on situations. I will be adding more rigid lifelines from the gallows frame back out on the boomkin (similar to the boomkin pulpit) for the purposes of mounting an extra set of panels. This is a very simple setup and allows you to run the wire through the clams in the back where you probably already have wires passing for the stern light (etc). I expect that we will have a total of 4 panels in parallel and I'm shooting for a goal of about 400 watts before we leave. While the lifeline mount isn't as nice as an arch, they are partially articulating (meaning they can tilt on their side) and they are easy to flip down in situations where you want to get them out of the way. But most of all, they stay out of the way of the working of the boat.
