Yard/Garden shed observatory

My thought is to use such a small shed as scope shelter with a connected & walled *patio*. Rather than roll-off a roof, I'd instead roll-out the scope into the *patio* where the privacy fence surrounding it will afford wind protection & neighborhood light buffering as with conventional backyard roll-off roof observatories. Construction should be much simpler than a conventional roll-off roof observatory, especially if a ready-made garden shed is used. Currently I'm sheltering the scope in my garage & rolling it out onto the driveway for use, but this is not ideal due to wind & light intrusion & the huge expanse of pavement affecting local Seeing. Anyone tried this? Thoughts as to worth or caveats to consider? Perhaps pave a sidewalk scope pathway & with the rest of the *patio* area planted to Creeping Thyme or other ground cover (no mowing & can be tread upon) to mitigate local heat retention/release within the observing area. Ivy growing on the Sunny side of shelter walls & shed would also reduce heat retention/release plus blends the observatory into it's yard/garden surroundings. Sockets in the paved scope pathway would provide for consistant polar alignment (adjust initially, then just place leg lifting rods back in sockets each successive observing session); inverted pipe caps could do as sockets. Yet the scope remains as ready to use & readily portable for use elsewhere as my present garage set-up and does not occupy garage space.

Ron,

I've been working on the same problem for years, priced out of a dome, movable sheds and or their roofs seem complicated, and alignment problems. I'm going with just a 8 by 8 gravel bed framed with 4*4"s and putting my 12" Lightbridge on a concrete 2" thick disk atop a 12" flue. I bought a Tele-Gizmo 365 cover for protection.

I know that it will leave it out all year and theft might be a problem but for me here where I am it shouldn't be and the whole thing will be bolted down and range around two to three hundred pounds!

I hope having it out will lead to more use.

Scott

Check out what I did for mine.....

http://alexastro.com/Alex%20Home%20Page/Equipment/outhouse/outhouseindex.html

It might give you ideas.

Alex