hi
At least a 12" and 3 k.?. you can do a lot with that budget
A lightbridge 16 " is doable with a little cash left over for a few accesseries
A lightbridge 12" , argo navis and two nice quality eyepieces
would also take care of most of your cash
A solid tube 12" argo and the eyepieces and a you have another few hundred left over .
gso ,and the meade lightbridge are made by the same company btw
I had a 10" for quite a while and it was a great scope
my only problem I had wasn't to do with the solid tube and its physical size
but the base ..my boot was a few mm off fitting in the assembled base ..
not a problem to take it apart or let it ride up front but still a ..pita..
all the same .
If you look at the 16" pictured here and notice the standard doorway behind
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1674
you get an idea of how big these sopes are .
The 12" bases in the LB and gso are also big but with the LB at least the
ota breaks down into two pieces .
blue skys advice is great .. have a look at a few scopes before you decide .
cheers and good luck with your choice