Moh,
If you're thinking of the 16" Lightbridge, you should be able to carry it.
The only draw back is can't fit it into a sedan of a smallish car.
The reason is that the doors don't open wide enough.
If it's a hatchback, that could be a different story.
The base will be your main problem, unless you can get one of the members here to supply you with dimensions, I suggest that you go to the M.A.S site and ask your question there.
We have two members with 16" Lightbridges.
John
hi. with my 16" i find its a lot of work just to fit it in my falcon and i have the rocker box in the boot pulled apart, and the tubes assemblies in the back seat, so a small car mite not be the best. but i think i could fit one person in if i had to.
les
I doubt very much a 16" LB will fit in a Corolla hatch without folding the seats down.
At min. you will need to drop the 60 spit seat to fit the rocker box to make room for the UTA at the back.
A 12" LB may fit at the back of the hatch, but even then I reckon it will be a very tight fit.
By the time you add acessories such as a eyepiece case, things get tight. Realistically I think you will need to fold the seats down, or at least one of them.
If its a 16" GSO dob you're thinking of then probably not! I borrowed one to try it out and struggled to fit it into the back of my older model Honda CR-V, which I got because it did have lots of room in the back. The round base makes a huge footprint and takes up more room than expected. I was not impressed, especially since I was involved with the rebuilding of a 17.5" that has a much smaller footprint (square) than that beast.
Moh,
If you're thinking of the 16" Lightbridge, you should be able to carry it.
The only draw back is can't fit it into a sedan of a smallish car.
The reason is that the doors don't open wide enough.
If it's a hatchback, that could be a different story.
The base will be your main problem, unless you can get one of the members here to supply you with dimensions, I suggest that you go to the M.A.S site and ask your question there.
We have two members with 16" Lightbridges.
John
Thanks John will definitely mention it on MAS site
Quote:
Originally Posted by norm
I doubt very much a 16" LB will fit in a Corolla hatch without folding the seats down.
Sorry I should have mentioned with folding the backseats down but not the passenger.
Someone brought a Meade truss 16 inch to the Linden Observatory site a few times in a sedan, I think. He assembled and disassembled the base using a cordless drill. Only took 10 minutes or so. Depends how keen you are!
Someone brought a Meade truss 16 inch to the Linden Observatory site a few times in a sedan, I think. He assembled and disassembled the base using a cordless drill. Only took 10 minutes or so. Depends how keen you are!
My only concern with that is over time, the holes in the mdf or particleboard will eventually give and the screws will no longer bite into them.
My 10 " base used to annoy me no end in that by a few mm it just wouldn't fit in the boot of an medium /large sized sedan.
So to have any room inside I had to take it to bits .
I have had a look at the 16" bases and wow they are big , not a problem if your car can fit it , but they do take up a lot of room no ifs or buts there.I have read a few trimming the bases edges because they won't fit through a standard doorway so theres always a way to make things work.
I've l;ost this post twice now. Hopefully third times a charm!
I can fit a 16" Lightbridge in the back of my MkII Audi TT with the back 'toddler' seats down. In otherwords, I haven't given up any usable passenger space I actually have plenty of spare room for EP and Accesories cases. You should have no problem with a focus hatchback. This is with the base fully assembled.
If you want to be able to take a front seat passenger and some camping gear as well as all the scope gear, I think its possible too by modding the scope base so it can be dismantled. I investigated this until I decided against as I permanently mounted so much stuff to the base pieces making flat pack unfeasible.
20 M6 threaded inserts and 10 M6 Knobbed bolts will do it. Basically a knobbed bolt wherever there is a base screw and 2 threaded inserts. One in the opposing base piece for the bolt to grab onto and one insert in the mating base piece to hold the bolt captive when the base is apart.
Quick and tool-less with no parts to loose. Inserts and bolts are literally cents at Bunnings I would imagine.
You'll be able to transport the OTA and UTA in the boot with the base pieces flatpacked. No need to fold the back seats forwards.
Thankyou for the info Glad to hear it fits even in the back of the Audi TT!
I wouldn't be too fond of dismantling the base, I'm lazy and it's too much effort Although it's tempting the fact can do it tool less...
btw, whats the boot space capacity of the Audi TT in litres? Cheers..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calibos
I've l;ost this post twice now. Hopefully third times a charm!
I can fit a 16" Lightbridge in the back of my MkII Audi TT with the back 'toddler' seats down. In otherwords, I haven't given up any usable passenger space I actually have plenty of spare room for EP and Accesories cases. You should have no problem with a focus hatchback. This is with the base fully assembled.
If you want to be able to take a front seat passenger and some camping gear as well as all the scope gear, I think its possible too by modding the scope base so it can be dismantled. I investigated this until I decided against as I permanently mounted so much stuff to the base pieces making flat pack unfeasible.
20 M6 threaded inserts and 10 M6 Knobbed bolts will do it. Basically a knobbed bolt wherever there is a base screw and 2 threaded inserts. One in the opposing base piece for the bolt to grab onto and one insert in the mating base piece to hold the bolt captive when the base is apart.
Quick and tool-less with no parts to loose. Inserts and bolts are literally cents at Bunnings I would imagine.
You'll be able to transport the OTA and UTA in the boot with the base pieces flatpacked. No need to fold the back seats forwards.
The load capacity is 290 litres with the back seats up and 700 Litres with the back seats folded down.
I've transported the scope once in the car since I got it in December '08. Not because it was too much hassle but because in January I embarked on an extensive modification program that has had the scope in pieces for months. Real life slowed things down. I thought I would be finished months ago!! That said, its not like I missed much observing opportunities. Weather has been dreadful in Ireland this year. Not that that is very suprising. It was always thus
The one time I transported the scope and my gear it was a breeze compared to transporting my old solid tube Orion XT12i 12" dob. With the Orion, I had to lie the base down because it was 30" tall. That took more space. The OTA had to lay somewhat diagonally across the load area because of its length,taking up more rear space while I still had to push the front passenger seat fully forward and tilt the seat-back rendering this seat unusable. Everything had to go in and come out in a particular order and stuff had to be wiggled and tilted and turned this way and that to get the stuff in and out.
While it was certainly amazing to see all this gear come out of the car it was a bit of a chore. It took concentration to load it when I was fresh minded heading off to an observing session. Coming home was a lot more frustrating. After a long session in the early hours of the morning, the 'oul braincells would be dulled. I'd invariably be standing at the back of the car scratching my head trying to figure out why everything wouldn't fit back in for the trip home, all the while the other guys looked on and chuckled to themselves
The LB16 was a godsend. The base while a lot bigger than the Orions didn't take up that much more space. Because it is 24/25" tall I was able to fit it in standing up and its 30" groundboard diametre meant it took up virtually the same footprint as the 30" tall Orion base on its side. The UTA sat inside the base and the Lower OTA lay on its side behind the base under the back window of the car. In other words, the scope took up 2/3's of the car leaving 1/3 free for other gear. This means I can either transport all the gear with straight lifts out of the car. ie. no creative packing techniques and head scratching or can creatively pack and transport a big 4 man tent and camping gear too!
The one thing was that although the base forks fit under the car roof and the sloping rear window, the actual roof lip where the hatchback meets the roof is lower. This meant I couldn't just slide the base up the car. I had to slide it up till a fork hit the roof lip and then tilt the base so the first fork went under the lip. Problem was, I had to climb into the boot to do this. I then realised that the clearance issue was only a matter of 1 inch. So I removed the old base feet. Screwed in 3 or those threaded inserts I talked about where the old feet were and fabricated 3 new feet with a bolt through them. Now I place the base in the boot, unscrew the 3 feet. Slide the base up the car and it clears the roof lip. All the while my feet remain on Terra Firma. I just screw the feet back on before I lift the scope out and put it on the ground.
So in other words I was able to fit a bigger scope in less space, with a lot more free space than the smaller scope all the while it being much easier to load and unload.
The icing on the cake was I managed to get the scope at a time when Meade UK were running a huge discount and the Credit crunch meant the British Pound hit parity with the Euro. I got a brand new LB16 for GBP968. With shipping to Ireland I paid 1100 Euro! It was 2400 euro on mainland Europe!!
Hi mbaddah,
I've seen the size of a 16"LB and quite simply I'd be keen to put the scope and anyting else in a box trailer for a trip...consider that you won't lose any passenger space and you can pack all your camping stuff as well...it'll be safer too!!!..try to rent one for a trip and see how it goes..
Cheers!
wow a lot of info there I'm surprised at the boot space volume of the TT! I've been looking at the following hatchbacks as they seem to have quite a large bootspace, but not sure whether they will accommodate a 16" truss dob:
- Ford Focus
- Toyota Corolla (5 door hatch)
- Toyota Prius
- Nissan Pulsar
Other than that, option are a 4wd or station wagon.
I'd like to avoid the trailer option due to lack of space
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calibos
The load capacity is 290 litres with the back seats up and 700 Litres with the back seats folded down.
I've transported the scope once in the car since I got it in December '08. Not because it was too much hassle but because in January I embarked on an extensive modification program that has had the scope in pieces for months. Real life slowed things down. I thought I would be finished months ago!! That said, its not like I missed much observing opportunities. Weather has been dreadful in Ireland this year. Not that that is very suprising. It was always thus
The one time I transported the scope and my gear it was a breeze compared to transporting my old solid tube Orion XT12i 12" dob. With the Orion, I had to lie the base down because it was 30" tall. That took more space. The OTA had to lay somewhat diagonally across the load area because of its length,taking up more rear space while I still had to push the front passenger seat fully forward and tilt the seat-back rendering this seat unusable. Everything had to go in and come out in a particular order and stuff had to be wiggled and tilted and turned this way and that to get the stuff in and out.
While it was certainly amazing to see all this gear come out of the car it was a bit of a chore. It took concentration to load it when I was fresh minded heading off to an observing session. Coming home was a lot more frustrating. After a long session in the early hours of the morning, the 'oul braincells would be dulled. I'd invariably be standing at the back of the car scratching my head trying to figure out why everything wouldn't fit back in for the trip home, all the while the other guys looked on and chuckled to themselves
The LB16 was a godsend. The base while a lot bigger than the Orions didn't take up that much more space. Because it is 24/25" tall I was able to fit it in standing up and its 30" groundboard diametre meant it took up virtually the same footprint as the 30" tall Orion base on its side. The UTA sat inside the base and the Lower OTA lay on its side behind the base under the back window of the car. In other words, the scope took up 2/3's of the car leaving 1/3 free for other gear. This means I can either transport all the gear with straight lifts out of the car. ie. no creative packing techniques and head scratching or can creatively pack and transport a big 4 man tent and camping gear too!
The one thing was that although the base forks fit under the car roof and the sloping rear window, the actual roof lip where the hatchback meets the roof is lower. This meant I couldn't just slide the base up the car. I had to slide it up till a fork hit the roof lip and then tilt the base so the first fork went under the lip. Problem was, I had to climb into the boot to do this. I then realised that the clearance issue was only a matter of 1 inch. So I removed the old base feet. Screwed in 3 or those threaded inserts I talked about where the old feet were and fabricated 3 new feet with a bolt through them. Now I place the base in the boot, unscrew the 3 feet. Slide the base up the car and it clears the roof lip. All the while my feet remain on Terra Firma. I just screw the feet back on before I lift the scope out and put it on the ground.
So in other words I was able to fit a bigger scope in less space, with a lot more free space than the smaller scope all the while it being much easier to load and unload.
The icing on the cake was I managed to get the scope at a time when Meade UK were running a huge discount and the Credit crunch meant the British Pound hit parity with the Euro. I got a brand new LB16 for GBP968. With shipping to Ireland I paid 1100 Euro! It was 2400 euro on mainland Europe!!
Which 5-door Toyota did you not have trouble getting the 16" LB in? So you had no problem fitting the 16" lb in the fiesta folding the seats down?
If I had known the model I would have named it. It belongs to my son and it is about the size of an Avensis. We took the lightbridge up to Crago along with an ETX125 about 6 months ago. I haven't used the lightbridge since.
.
I actually have plenty of spare room for EP and Accesories cases. You should have no problem with a focus hatchback. This is with the base fully assembled.
