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Hi Paul,
I think I might have been standing around that 8" dob while you were ruminating on it at StarStuff, if you were the chap that also had his son there. For what you paid, that's a great price - never seen one so cheap.
Not sure I can help with your adapter question - I do find that the basic 1.25" eyepieces will reach focus without an extension tube, but better quality 2" ep's need a 35mm tube for my 8" which is the same as yours. All my 1.25" eps reach focus with or without the 2" extension tube in, so I just generally leave it in there the whole time, and swap out the 2" eyepieces for a 1.25"+ adapter as required. I find the 1.25" adapters that come with basic laser collimators are good for this, as they sit deep into the extension tube. I tend to use a zoom eyepiece quite a bit with the 8", so changing eyepieces all the time isn't too much of an issue.
Regarding the eyepiece holder, the exposure didn't bother me so much as the limited storage, so I removed it and replaced it with a plastic tray from Bunnings, which I put some black flocking on the bottom of, and just clip it to the front panel with a couple of bulldog clips - holds several eyepieces plus you can put your phone, filters, chocolate, etc in there and just put a cloth over it if there's dew about.
Good luck with your scope - I think you got a real bargain.
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