7' Observatory Update - Cylinder Primed

Folks,
I finally skinned the lower cylinder, including the "rounded" door which I spent way too much time on. The initial primer coat is on, with 1 more coming plus the final epoxy coat. Inside walls were "pre-primed" before being screwed in and will be painted flat black at the end.

I struggled with the underneath treating of the wood ring to prevent long term rot. My final setup was coating the under ring with boat resin, then cut/glued on 3/4" pink foam insulation to keep the wood off the concrete base. This should be good enough. Also, I am hoping that the pink insulation board will allow for variation in the concrete pad.

I am debating whether to epoxy paint the dome/cylinder in my garage or outside assuming CT can get a 2 day dry window... To roll it out to the backyard site, I plan to use 10x12 carpets, moving them back and forth keeping the cylinder off the driveway/yard.

Hopefully, this will be done soon since I haven't been able to use my scope since October...
Regards,
Steve

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Looks great Steve! 8)

Congratulations on this major step forward! It looks like it's coming together nicely! Those rounded doors can be a bother can't they! I made mine out of 2x6's and door skins and it was challenging!
Good luck on the weather!

Folks,

Here's why you measure twice and cut once. The 1" clearance seems larger than it looks...

Steve

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Folks,

I am sure there was a better way, but screwing the door shut and rolling the cylinder out back seemed to work ok. I decided to skip the 10x12 carpets. A few small stones needed to be scraped out and some grass stains were easily painted over. Turning on the grass was remarkably easy...

Steve

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Folks,
Setting the cylinder on the preset bolts was not easy. 2x4s and 4x4s were used to jockey it into position. One piece of insulation was torn off and needed replacement. Having the bolts already in place, while stronger, made the setting harder than if had to be.

Anyway, final the cylinder was set. Then, to trouble my neighbor, who was warned earlier in the day, to help lift the dome into place. And amazingly, the dome wheels did NOT compress, allowing easy dome rotation!

The 5' door opening, I already hit my head 2x, but there no problem for my son...

Next the final epoxy white paint coating -

Steve

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Folks,

Finally the super white epoxy has been applied and is completely dried. The dome opening covers are in place. Surprisingly, the openings are out of normal reach so a small permanent step ladder may remain in the dome. Also, 5 extension cords were needed to get power to the dome! So I an thinking of using a garden hose coiler but load it with extension cords.

Anyway, for less than $2000 this dome is done! Next week I will install my C11. I am still concerned about potential leaks so a telescope cover is mandatory.

Thanks for everyone's support on this dome project. I will try to post once more with my 19 year old scope inside.

Regards,
Steve

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