Equipment clutter

OK...I'm smart enough, but I had a near death experience last night with my scope. This happened about 2AM on the first crystal clear night we've had in months. The cables for the:
-HCU
-Dew Zapper
-Focus controller
-CCD
-DEC motor

...conspired against me and when I wasn't looking got SO F'ing tangled that I nearly took the whole scope down to the ground with me in a heap.

The HAS to be a better way. Has anyone seen a portable "console" that one could mount ALL the necessary apparatus to that would greatly facilitate setup and break down. I have some ideas, but would like to take the easier route of copying an existing solution.

Donald,

I have similar problems with cables. I have considered building a console just like you are describing (and may yet for routing and managing power), but an easy inexpensive solution I have found is to use the "Split Loom" tubing. You can buy this at Radio Shack and probably any electrical supply company.

I gather the cables to the rear of the telescope/mount and put them altogether in the split loom tube. It cleans up the appearance and, more importantly, keeps the cables out of the way when the scope is slewing during goto's or other movements.

Bear in mind, this works especially well with a GEM mount since I can route most of the cables down both the axis of the scope and the dovetail/saddle. I wasn't able to do this as easily with a fork mount since the OTA pivots on the fork cross axis, which makes it harder if you are trying to route your cables down the fork (to keep them out of the way). You can still gather the cables in the split loom, but they may still hang off the back, which means you may still need to watch them if the scope slews through the forks.

I hope this helps.
Best Regards,
David Moody