I discovered what I think is a design flaw in this mount. Both motors are external and both are on the same side of the mount. The mount always wants to fall to the west.
I've been wanting to load up my scopes all at once anyway, so ordered the ADM side by side saddles. I paid an extra $19 for the 18" bar (standard bar is 15") because I wanted to be sure I had enough space between scopes when I get my long focal length scope. If I go with the truss RC, then I need extra room. I believe the 10" truss to be 15"-16" wide on the primary mirror end, and of course the 12" would be even more if I decided to go that big. My thinking is a 10" mirror would sit in a 12" tube, plus the extra width for the carbon fiber truss poles on each side. There's a 21" bar option for another $29, but felt the 18" should be all I need....plus I worry I wont be able to open the roof if I go that route!!
I wanted to mount my 10" Meade SCT, but need to buy another 21 lb weight first. Everything seems to be balanced nicely now with the C8 on one side and the 107mm on the other. Plan is to piggyback the Star71 on the 107mm, and put a 10" truss RC or 12" newt in the C8's place. Then I think I can slide the bigger scope closer to center and still get my roof open with the RA axis laid over. If not, I'll have to shorten up my pier adapter, but really want to avoid that if possible.
For now the C8 has a 2" diagonal with an ES82 14mm eyepiece in it. Hope I remember how to look in those things.
Now to get that other counterweight ordered..... 