Telescope Reviews: Re: Observatories at Star Parties..options?

Unfortunately no, no other pictures. What I can tell you is this...

The base was curved plate steel that was a 4' radius to cover half the observatory, with metal loops welded at the end where a heavy duty ratchet strap would go around the rest of the observatory on the bottom. there was a "lip" that was welded to the bottom curve about two inches wide and probably 4 feet long. This "lip" fit under the observatory to lift it. There was an upper curved piece similar to the bottom that had loops welded so that a rachet strap would go around the dome base. There were two handles on the dome base that the strap would go through to keep it from sliding off. Two pieces of channel stock connected the upper and lower curved pieces, welded to them. At the intersection of the channels and the upper curved piece there was a ring welded that the winch would attach to, to pull it over. The base (lower curved part and lip) was attached to the end of the trailer via heavy duty hinges with bolts. The through holes welded to the lip/curved piece and the other half of the hinge bolted to the trailer back. The trailer tipped at about a 40 degree angle and then the hinges would allow the dome to rotate upright and level. Then just slide the "lip" out from under the base.

The saddle basically looked like someone sitting with there arms and legs out in front of them in a rounded curve, like a yoga position.

There were a couple of tricks. First the dome needed to be bolted to a base of 3/4 plywood. To isolate the tripod it needs a hole cut in the center, or three holes where the legs would contact the ground directly. I always thought about doing some kind of wood plugs it could rest on, but never got around to doing it, the hole was fine. Just make sure the orientation with the tripod and north is calculated so you can put the dome down and get the mount facing north. I did it so the door faced north.

The other thing is to put some heavy duty rubber padding on the bottom so it doesn't mar up any blacktop. (Make sure the bolts for the hinges are up and not facing down so they gouge when the trailer is tilted). I also added some wood to the bottom, like 1/2" thick strip, 5" wide and about 4 feet long just in front of where the lip went. This was because if the base settled on soft ground, the dome would have to be pushed up in order to get the lip on the saddle under it. The wood strip held it up high enough so the lip was easy to put under it.

So the straps would go from the curved pieces along the base and the bottom of the dome from the loops on the curved pieces. There were two other straps to keep the dome from rotating while being moved.

The way it was set up on mine, the door was down, (against the saddle) for transport. I never got around to doing this, but I wanted to rotate the rig so the door was on the side. It was down for weather protection, but with it on the side, then the observatory could be used to transport light stuff like chairs, a tent, sleeping bags etc, (provided the hole in the floor had a cover). Actually what I did for the floor, I had a cover for it, but I also stapled and glued some plastic tarp on the bottom as a water barrier. I left it baggy so it would allow the tripod to set on the ground but still have the bottom totally enclosed from mud, bugs etc.

Hope this helps.

Dan at Exploradome build the saddle for me so he probably can give you the specs.

I LOVED the rig and like I say, would still be using it today if I had a reasonable place to store it and a larger truck to pull it.

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-Jim-
Happiness is a clear sky and a Denk II

old AP images and some new C14 Hyperstar images

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