Skyshed Pod Up & Running

[ambermyst]

Our SkyShed Pod arrived safely in early April after months of deliberating over RORO or SkyShed and then waiting for the delivery of it from Altair Astro. Luckily we had some time booked off work ready for the build so we were ready to go.

I have to say we had never taken on a project like this before so it was all brand new to us and we were a little nervous.

We had dug out a 2'x2'x3' deep hole which we filled with concrete and built a frame around the hole ready to insert the fixing bolts for the pier into the final mix. I am more than relieved to say that it all went according to plan. While we were waiting for the concrete to set we started making the frame for the decking and screw on the decking boards ready to mount the Pod on. Next came the really exciting part - building the Pod. This was as easy as they said it would be. With a little persuasion (a kick & a thump with rubber mallet) all the bits went together. The DVD was really helpful we watched a part of it then paused it and went out and did that section, watched some more and so on. We still have some tidying up to do round the outside of the decking but thats about all.

We are at the stage now where we are faffing with lights etc and are about ready to bolt it down (although we are waiting for a few more nights viewing to make sure that we dont need to offset it anymore) and seal it to the deck. We have a couple of good nights rain here and so far (fingers crossed) we are leak free although for safety we are keeping a lightweight tarp over the scope & mount...just in case.

One smallish worry at the mo is that at this time of year in the Pod we cannot see much in Ursa Major this is due to trees and the dome hiding the Zenith at that point. If we offset it much more the scope will be too close to the wall.

We are now waiting patiently for clear skies!

Trish & Colin