It’s interesting that you should bring up Cassegrains. I know it’s not what you meant, but one possibility I’m looking at is rebuilding my Newtonian as a classical Cassegrain(ian). I’d need to get a suitable hyperbolic concave secondary, and I’ve had no luck at finding one so far. People who know a lot more about optics than I do have also said similar things to you, about getting a better long focal length newt and coupling it with a good Barlow, but that doesn't fix my problem with a Newt's eyepiece location. Makes it slightly worse in fact.
Royce does Cassegrain sets, out of interest (
http://www.rfroyce.com/cass_sets.htm ) did you get your mirror straight from him, or via some other route?
About the EQ6, I’m not worried about its weight bearing capabilities, I’m worried about mine!
Regards, Mike