observatory finally bows down to xmas storms

[luna 2011]

hi all  happy new year to you all.it been a long stormy december and start of new year with hardly any observing done here in the Patrick moore observatory.sadly my obsy gave up on riding out the storms and has been damaged,thankfully the scope and gear was saved before parts of the roof went and let in water.it has been pushed of its base as the shims it sat on were rotted which i failed to notice,should of checked them back in the summer .glad it was insured so will be able to replace it with a new shed which will be improved to withstand our very exposed site which suffers constant wind flow most of year,lets hope it arrives before my new scope does.key point here is to make sure working observatories big or small are well maintained and insured in some way,its strange the feeling when something you work so hard to construct and use for this amazing hobby is lost.my obsy has now been demolished for safety reasons but a new stronger one will replace it and bite back at the wind in revenge

[floppygoose]

Sorry to hear this - bad luck luna, let's hope you can get the insurance / repairs sorted before the new scope, but my experience with insurance companies normally suggests the opposite. Good luck, and I hope this didn't ruin your new year too much. 

Phil

[Gina]

What a shame, sorry from me too - good luck with the replacement - hope all goes well

[kev]

Ouch, sorry to hear that.

I gather tonight/tomorrows going to be bad down your part of the world too.

[laser_jock99]

Bad luck with the observatory. We're just being battered by the seventh (I think?) storm in a month up here in Mid Wales mountains. I had to replace a few roofing nails which had worked loose but so far (touching wood) every thing has held.

One thing I did was sit inside during some of the worst gusts and take note of any potential weak points. I added an extra two tie downs to the roof (now there are eight) and modified the 'snow prop' so it can't fall down when I'm not there.

If you are in a very exposed position as we are- then I can thoroughly recommend metal sheet construction. It's really good for horizontal rain!!

Wooden frame with 'cowshed' style metal sheet construction.

[luna 2011]

hiya all it seems im not the only one here to have suffered a damaged obsy,sadly my insurance company wont replace it so all is lost.the site has now been cleared and a new shed will be going up in spring as i have managed to bag an almost new 8x6 shed from family which is the same size as the last one but much stronger.my new 12 inch dob will be moved in and out on its scope trolley via the widened front door,all the roof running gear on old shed is all bent so cannot be used on new building so will modify as money allows.for now my gypsy caravan will serve as a temporary observatory