Thanks for your welcome chaps.
G__Day, the eyepieces that came with the telescope were a 20mm, 12.5mm and a 6.5mm Plössl, the mount is a generic 'german' equatorial, which I must admit seems pretty solid (and heavy!).
As if I hadn't confessed enough sins in my first post, I have to admit that celestial pole alignment hasn't been part of my set-up routine. I just set up the scope in the back yard and have a gaze around. (Can this get me expelled from the forums?
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Being one of those who just can't leave things alone, I've made a few improvements to my 'scope which, for my kind of use, have made it a little friendlier to use. Of course I've blown any warrantee in doing this, but hey, I'd already resigned myself to being stuck with it anyway.
The first thing I noticed was the poor quality of hardware supplied with the mount. Most notably, the cap-head screws used to fix the optical tube assembly to the mount only had around 3mm of bite. Economising on screw length at this particular point seemed a very bad idea, so these were replaced with stainless steel ones of an appropriate length.
The next thing was the risky business of removing the OTA from the mount when wanting to move the 'scope outside for viewing. The OTA was fixed to the mount by lobe knob screws. Once these were removed the OTA could head straight for the ground if you didn't have a good grip on it.
My solution was to fabricate a new mounting plate out of 10mm aluminium, replace the lobe knob screws idea with cap-head screws fixed into the tube rings that allow me to position the tube on the mount by aligning the screws with the holes. This means that the tube can't go anywhere unexpectedly. The tube is then locked in place by the use of lobe knob nuts.
While I was building the new mounting plate I decided to space the tube rings slightly further apart, thus giving a little more stability (theoretically) and at the same time allowing me to add a 200mm handle from ring to ring. This really made a big difference to the ease of moving and setting up.
The next thing I did was modify the base of the mount to provide azimuth adjustment. This was achieved by installing a thrust bearing between the yoke and the tripod mount. Not a 'lazy suzan' type mind you, but a properly machined bearing (60mm O.D. and 30mm I.D.). I then made further modifications to include a locking mechanism that allowed the mount to be locked at any point without causing it to drift while tension is applied.
The inside of the base was reinforced with 'Selley's' Knead-It metal. It's added some weight to the mount but the result is a lot more stable.
This is the extent of my fiddling so far (SOMEONE STOP ME, It's getting out of control
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On reflection, I don't think I'd've had as much fun if the 'scope had been perfect to start with. What I'm missing in Astronomy is feeding the latent engineer lurking somewhere inside.
Anyway, thanks for the welcome. It seems I'm in good company.
Cheers