DIsaster / Heartbreak / dispair, but lucky at the same time

[oldpink]

my telescopes live outside permanently mounted
they are covered by a tent when not being used as was the case last night as the weather was atrocious

I got up this morning and looked out to see both scopes and the tent had blown over in the night

ran out (still in my boxers) and was filled with dread as I untangled the tent to get to the scopes

first thing I seen was my brand new ED80 pro had snapped off the rings and the guide scope was pointing at a strange angle

and a small dent in the tube where one of the ring was

my 200p seemed to be fine thankfully no dents or any other damage (they landed on grass)

brought the ED indoors to see how bad the damage was

one ring had snapped completely, the other had survived, the guide scope had bent the screw holding it onto the broken ring
and had slightly bent one side of the focus wheel but still useable

then I noticed the focus tube on the ED was slopping about so I removed the full back end of the scope to find one of the guide bearings had snapped off

luckily it had snapped clean and I managed to get the screw that holds it in place out and found a replacement screw
put it all back together and it seems to be fine

also the finder scope screw which holds it in place has snapped off and will need drilled out

the mounts were Ok and just required lifting up and repositioning

I think the wind had got up during the night and managed to pull the tent up from the pegs and wrap around the scopes

acting like a sail pulling the mount & scopes over

really annoyed with myself for not making sure the tent was really secure
but lesson learned, from now on if there is any whiff of more than a moderate breeze the scopes will be brought indoors

but apart from a small dent and a new set of rings required I got off lightly

[estwing]

Very lucky...

[D4N]

Yikes what a nightmare, very lucky to get away with so little damage.

Standard tent pegs are pretty useless, I use lengths of rebar bent over at the end, would need some serious wind to pull those out

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Astro Imp]

When I started reading the OP I thought this isn't going to end well.

Pleased to see in the end that it could have been a lot worse and that you have learned a lesson without having to pay too high a cost.

[oldpink]

yes I was very lucky

the good news is I have the 200p on the NEQ6 doing some solar shots and if anything the pictures are the best I have ever got

I didn't even have to move the focusing, I was sure it would have knocked my collimation (which wasn't great to start with) out

may get a break tonight and do a full check and test the guide scope out, after the day I've had I deserve a bit of luck

[Earl]

A real nightmare, due to my poor mobility I decided a fully automated dome was in order with cloud sensor and wind speed sensor. It gets installed next week or the week after.

[bobmoss]

I don't think I could sleep at night knowing my scopes were outside all alone!

Glad there wasn't too much damage.

[Vega]

Hi oldpink

Exactly the same thing happened to me last autumn. EQ6, ED80 and Sklylux70 piggybacked on top with guide rings, counterweights etc covered with scope cover. 70mph gusts that night and it litterly toplled the EQ6! I was gobsmacked! The main rings had sheered right through. the tighners on my EQ6 handcontroller cable also snapped and left inside the housing (still there to this day, luckily the cable still works and will stay in place). My Skylux tube got dented but amazingly no breakages to any glass in the scopes.

These mounts are tough cookies! Count your blessing though. I always keep a keen eye on the forecast since that day.

Glad you escaped without too much damage

Regards

Matt

[Floater]

Lucky man, indeed! Someone/something up there must like you.

As others have written - lesson learned, perhaps.

p.s. The wind didn't just 'get up', it roared up at Rannoch ... And kept roaring!

[kev]

Pleased it ended up ok. When we had the october gales back years ago my roll off roof lifted and landed 2 doors away. After that rebiuld i put a whole load of concrete into the ground with hooks and chained the new top half to the bottom

Sent from my iPhone so excuse the typos!

[spaceboy]

Sorry to hear the bad news. For what it's worth, I was under the impression that ED glass was best kept indoors away from the damp ?

[LeeB]

You could also peg the legs down using cable ties looped, that way even if the tent pulls it wont tip over. I have done this before and it works.

[DaveS]

Ouch!

My scopes live indoors, only the mount stays outside with a Telegizmo's 365 cover on it, but that's mainly down to security worries.

Another reason to consider a solid pier.

[leelee970]

I'm not sure what type of tent you have but you may want to consider an awning strap over the top of the tent.

Lee

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

OUCH!!! Awful thing to happen, glad the damage is not any worse

[baggywrinkle]

The God's were playing with someone, glad it worked out OK.

Were the neighbours impress with the boxer display?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Oh dear - commiserations You must have felt gutted to see all the damage . Hope everything gets sorted and works like new again.

All the best

Louise

[Kropster]

Can you anchor the mounts securely? Then the tent could not drag them over.