Renovated Horse Float Idea

[SadisticSarz]

Hi guys

We have an disused horse float. I was thinking about how it would be so cool as a observatory for me to use. I talked to my uncle about helping with it and his first response though in a joking manner "When hell freezes over" but he said he will help me so he told me to design it and get advice from others who have built their own observatory and/or renovated a horse float into one so here is my first design attempt. :shrug:

[faaarwest2k]

Hey ferret. Looks good. Just make sure you have a nice sturdy door to seal it up and it sits on a perfectly level concrete foundation.

[ZeroID]

An interesting project for sure. You may need to put in a raised floor as the walls will be quite high. You will also need a long sturdy pier down to a solid base to reduce any vibration and keep the scope and mount steady.
The advantage of an Observatory of course is that it is permanently setup and aligned so minimal time lost when you want to use it.

And being a 'Horse Float' it may fool the cloud gods and give you some clear skies ... ;)

[SadisticSarz]

I was thinking about the high walls and will need to raise that part of the floor with perhaps a single step or 2. do you have any suggestions that i could use to make my pier solid and strong. he float will be perminent and has already got a spot on our farm that my uncle is preparing the ground for

[Akwestland]

Sara,

I am fairly new to this game as well. I was looking at your concept and I had a slightly different thought on this.

The walls of the horse float may limit your space too much, so... why not a pier mounted scope with a removable shed (horse float on wheels).

Cut a channel out of the floor for the trailer to back into enclosing the pier, then closing the tailgate for storage. It does mean that the horse float has to be mobile, maybe this is possible with a boat winch (manual or 12V) and pulley system as opposed to the need of a vehicle to move it.

This is just my thoughts on this but I like the thought on it. We also live on a farm and you try to make use of whatever you have lying around. If I get to make one myself I am liking the idea of a water tank (poly) observatory.

Just my thoughts, best of luck.

Cheers,
Andrew.

[ZeroID]

Hi Sara, the normal process for a permanent setup is to dig a large deep hole, a 1 meter cube is recommended. Fill it with concrete and rebo with a pier cast as part of it or attached with J bolts. The Observatory sits around the pier but isolated so no vibrations are transferred. Should weigh a couple of tonnes or so and it is not going to move.

That the ideal ... not always feasible or affordable.

So the two main principles derived are'
1. A mount for the scope(s) that is as rock steady as you can make it
2. Any floor or building to be totally disconnected from the mount on separate foundations.

My tin shed ob sits on a huge slab of concrete that was in place when we bought the house and the floor and shed are on 4 blocks, one at each corner well away from my large 10" concrete drainpipe standing on end 'pier' which is tie bolted to the slab. I might add we are on the side of a volcano and the concrete is stuck to the rock base so lucky.

If you are seriously going to use the horse float then chop a hole through the bottom and pour a concrete slab, cube or similar beneath and sit\attach your scope mount on that. The Float is just there to keep the rain off and protect the gear.

That is the raw description of what is required. In reality a lot of other things need to be taken into consideration, Sky view, trees blocking, nearby lights, power, networking maybe, lights, security, the list goes on.

[SadisticSarz]

Thank you Zero for your advice that is very helpful. the place where the observatory will be resting has no trees close by its got good viewing and light polution is not a problem. have to move the horses though incase they get nosey and come visit but other than that its gona be great. networking and security i will look at later down the track

[SadisticSarz]

This is the back paddock where I will be setting up my horse float observatory. Because it wont be going anywhere other than the paddock it will be housed on top of a concret steel foundation 1.5m depth with 1m above land. 2.5m wide and 4.l5m long

[mswhin63]

Beautiful views there. Need to take care that the horses do not want to go for a ride. ;):D

[SadisticSarz]

Thats ok we will be moving them to another paddock on the day. The 2 ponies they will go out the gate by themselves they are not people animals lol.

[SadisticSarz]

Hiya Guys.

These are an update on the the original designs for my Horse Float Observatory Renovation. This is my first ever big project well my first ever project over all. I have already made stride in gutting the float out and with the hand held grinder have removed most of the Protruding metal add ons for way before Adam was a monkey. Please add advice & any suggestions you feel fit that would be most helpful to me.

Thank You Sara

[SadisticSarz]

Hi Guys

I thought I would show my progress in striping down the old to make way for the new

[Somnium]

good progress made, i am really looking forward to how this turns out, it is an interesting idea

[SadisticSarz]

Dose anyone know what the ideal tempetrure should be in a small obeservatory :question:

[Somnium]

Inside the observatory should be the same as the exterior when observing , you don't want a delta temp between your observatory and the environment. But, if you are leaving your equipment in the observatory you want to stop it from getting too hot during the day, keep it below 30 I would say as a completely arbitrary figure.

[SadisticSarz]

Thank you for your advice Aidan. this is very helpful:thumbsup: