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HAHA brilliant. I'll keep you posted on my plans and progress. Wife and son are away for a week and a half visiting family so it's a golden opportunity to complete the project.
Thus far:
- I'm going for a wooden frame. It's the easiest and cheapest to construct with my skills and tools.
- It'll be about 1.2m square, treated pine frame and weatherboard exterior
- I'll have to figure out some way to insulate and water proof behind the weatherboards.
- I have a few lengths of very heavy straight cut macrocarpa that I'm thinking of using as a floor.
- The base will have to be about 0.5m off the ground.
- Roof will likely be a single piece, hinged with corrugated plastic, insulation and weatherproofing etc...
The biggest problem at the moment is I'm not sure about how to mount the telescope. The easiest I can think of is to just place the tripod inside and use the leg adjusters to level. The issue is that my tripod is quite tall and it would make the box too large. I can replace the tripod legs with a shorter length of steel, supposing I can find the right diameter.
The alternative and more expensive approach would be a purpose built pier or steel tripod mount bolted to the floor.
I'll get power into the box with an extension lead to the house to run the dehumidifier, 12v power supply etc...
I think that's most of the important things covered. Still not sure how to seal all the cracks and gaps that inevitably result from my below average woodworking skills. I guess that expansion foam would do the trick for most??
Open to suggestions... :-)
When it's done, I'll do a talk at our local society. Seems like it's a common problem for semi-mobile people.
Tim
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