Well the 1st step to a permenant obs...a Pier and as they say..."what a pier".
Not cheap, but damn solid. 1.1m high, 500mm (sq) x 22mm bottom plate, top plate 15mm, gussets 10mm, Pier 220mm x 12mm pipe and lots of welding. All done by a local welding fab house all powder coated "astro black".
Yep... got it from the wharf, they used to tie up the QE2 to it...well not really but the damn things is as solids as.
Has a top hole to allow sand backfill and I have some top adapter plates: a Losmandy MA and 300mm round 1" alloy top plate to cap off the pier. I didn't see the sense in an adjustable top plate for levelling.
This pier should be able to hold much larger mounts...you never know!
Now the real works for the rest of the obs begins.