From: Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@me.com>

Date: December 11, 2009 12:00:13 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] dollies...

Hi Ray,

Good luck with your English weather by the way! Summer here has enabled easier polar alignment but has brought problems with unexpected turbulence etc. perhaps because of high daytime temperatures?

Mark.

On 12/12/2009, at 4:51 AM, Ray Byrne wrote:

Hi Mark,

I had a wheely Dolly made by and engineer friend years ago when I had an LX200 10" which I too kept in my garage. It was quite good better than humping out all the stuff seperately but it really isn't a patch on a permenant installation. Honest mate make some sort of obbo you won't regret it. Run-off roof, run-off shed, dome they really make a difference.

Take a look at the cloudynights observatory forum they've done everything you care to think of.

Maybe have it in your mental "wish-list" I got my dome by taking my pension early, all I need now is a clear night (haven't literally had one since September).

ATB

Ray UK

On 11 Dec 2009, at 17:31, Mark Gaffney wrote:

Hi Milton & others,
I`m dreaming about one of these for next year..http://jimsmobile.com/buy_wheeley_bars.htm#Universal
One of the Medium Sized Universal Wheeley Bars, down the page a bit
would enable me to wheel my mount/scope in & out of the garage at
will. This & perhaps a paver pad for the scope would be goals for next
year! I`m a bit stuck here if I want to take a trip away or if it
rains really seriously. The number of basically, strangers being
invited in & out of the place by other family members has me very
nervous about leaving the scope unattended even for a day. These same
family members are inclined to go out at the drop of a hat & leave my
gear unsupervised. The Telegizmous scope cover is working well in
ordinary conditions as to keeping the scope (a C9.25 on a CG-5 mount)
dry. I have another tarp wrapped around the tripod base if it rains at
all. With the dolly I`d have the added option of bringing the scope
inside the garage & by setting up markers for polar alignment I could
perhaps have it ready again with a minimum of adjustments. These
dollies will allow you to bolt the scope down again where you had it
before. I`m very cagey about my polar alignment now-once achieved I`d
like to preserve it!

Mark.