by Aratus » Mon Feb 29, 2016 11:04 am
A few years back a shoulder condition meant I could no longer carry my 8" SCT and tripod (safely) outside every time. When I did it was painful, and I took a risk in dropping it. I thought of several solutions, including something like this. In the end I went the whole hog and fitted out a small observatory. My thinking was that I still had to carry out the SCT, and all the other equipment. The cost of a permanant pier and flooring was about a 3rd of the whole cost of the observatory. Of course it rather depends of the money available, and the land you have. etc.
Your idea seems quite feasable, Barry. My only thoughts are about the excavation of earth that is going to be required, and the complex concreting. Another is that I've never come across a manufactured pivoting pier like that. It would have to be double length and someone is going to have to make it. These problems could be overcome of course with cost and labour. My main worry is that part of the idea of a permanent pier is its rigidity. They are normally set in concrete or fixed to long bolts set in the concrete. It is hard to see how that can be done easily in this case. This could make an interesting group discussion.
I use an 11" reflector (Celestron CPC 1100) and a 3" refractor, (Sky-Watcher ST80) mounted on an equatorial wedge, housed in a 2.2m Pulsar observatory. I use a ZWO ASI 120MM, ZWO ASI1600MC and Canon 1300D for imaging.