My DIY-ish SCT case

[nmoushon]

So the wife is not a fan of my astronomy "clutter" (as she puts it) taking up so much space in our spare bedroom, which is her sewing room. So I was tasked with finding a suitable storage container for my equipment. I was able to find some very nice used Pelican cases. I picked them up at a government auction so I was actually able to buy a lot of 4 of them for a bit over the price of a single new one! So price was perfect. For those that don't know these cases are water proof and shock proof and this particular one can float with 300lbs of equipment inside. Not sure what circumstance I'll be in to require a floating case of astro equipment but better safe than sorry I guess lol. The cases also have rollers and an extendable handle for rolling....like a suitcase. Weight is very reasonable for the size and even with my 9.25" EdgeHD inside I can still easily lift it to put in the trunk. Would want to walk across a parking lot with it but thats what the rollers are for. 

Since they where used the foam interior was pre-cut for whatever the military had been using it for. So this was limiting as to what I could use it for and still salvage what foam was there. So I spent Sunday after noon trying to figure out how exactly to re-purpose the existing foam and save as much as possible. Then I remembered that I still have the shipping boxes and foam from Celestron. As you can see in the photos I used one side for both the front and the rear original foam cut out from Celestron (the white foam) and was able to fit them in very nicely in the existing foam, with a lot of cutting out of course of both sets of foam. But in the end I think it fits very nicely (and very snug as well) in the case with plenty of room around it. So if need be I have some room to pack a couple bits and pieces around the scope body. Though I probably wont as I dont want to scratch the body. 

My first thought was to carve out a second case for my mount head and all the other extras but I think it might be a bit too big and would leave too much room for the mount head to move about inside. Plus I can fit one case in my trunk (just barely with a couple hard shoves lol) but if I where to put it in the back seat it would have to lay sideways which wouldnt be easy on the stuff inside. So I leaning towards selling the rest and find a couple smaller cases.  

Edit: Sorry for picture quality and  orientation my phone doesnt have the best camera.

[knobby]

Nice job

[weareborg]

Very cool

[JamesM]

That's looking like very secure case and I like the way you have utilised the original scope packaging (white polystyrene) to make things really snug - great effort!

Clear skies

[cjdawson]

I was considering getting one of these cases for my OTA, still need a case for it. but with Guidescope attached, it's too big for the case

They are excellent cases, so grats for grabbing 4 of them dirt cheap!

[laudropb]

Very nice solution for storing your SCT. Looks very secure.