Well it's done! The second hand pod I bought had a few worn areas but nothing a little DIY couldn't fix. The first rain was torrential and there were some drips inside on all 4 corners where the dome quarters meet, so I've replaced the internal foam seals, external rubber and added some silicon to the joins.
The pod is large enough to hold my gear fully extended, even with the guide scope on top but high targets are definitely problematic with the semi-circle of the dome being straight up. It hasn't blocked the view yet, but my guidescope has been blocked, so I may switch to off-axis guiding... though this isn't possible for my hyperstar work.
Apart from that, it's an absolute pleasure. I come and go whenever the weather suits and can now spend more time on planning and hypertuning the alignment instead of spending hours setting up and pulling down everything.
Special thanks to Astronobob for helping me lift the dome and lending a hand with his hammer drill and concrete screws, and my wife for supporting all the crazy.
Technically the easternmost observatory in Australia!
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