Observatory/Warm Room Finally Finished

[Tim99]

The project began in March and was finally completed in September!  It began with clearing the land of trees and brush.  I built a "Tiny House" here at home and then hauled it to the site.  This will serve as my 'Warm Room.'  Then, I build a deck for my SkyShed POD.  I am finally up and running in the new observatory and I am very pleased to have a permanent site for my telescope.  Here are a few pictures:

 

[MarsG76]

That's great... Nice work.

[red dwalf]

that`s one hell of a pier

[Magnus_e]

Nice touch with the solar power

[glowjet]

With all that excellent ground work and joinery, did you not consider going all the way and constructing a roll on, roll off roof obsy. What you have done though looks great and that pier, wow,  

[JohnC64]

Wow thats a  serious bit of groundwork and wood work.    Yep like the solar panel too.  Nice one 

John

[Linda]

That looks like a nice and solid solution. You seem to be good with handy work, and still choose to use a commercial dome, instead of building a house with a roll-off roof. I understand that that is the easiest solution if you like to make a dome shaped observatory. A dome is probably also the best solution for visual astronomy, I guess.

[Tim99]

Thanks for checking out the project.  I considered building a roll-off building but it would probably cost about the same in the end.  The SkyShed POD is an easy and portable solution for my Astro-obsession.   Down the road, my family would have no use for a permanent roll-off building but they could sell this POD.  The 'Tiny House' cabin can be used for many years on this site or even moved to a different location or sold.  Just being practical, I guess.

I really like the POD.  So far, I have spent two nights under the stars in this thing.  There is plenty of room for all my gear in those five bays and opening the clam-shell style dome reveals a wide view of the sky and open air feeling.  The 4' side walls really gives me a feeling of being outside which is what I like.  Having a permanent telescope mount is the best part of the deal.  No more dragging equipment outside! 

[Tim99]

One helluva pier alright!  It's a 12"  Sonotube  (which actually measured 11").  It sits on a foundation at a depth of 48 inches.  We get heavy freezes here in Western New York.  That big tube you see around the sonotube was filled with stone just to help support the sonotube while I poured the concrete.  After the concrete cured, I removed that big outer tube and spread the stone around.  Total height of the pier was less than 8 feet.  Here's a video of the pier project.  

 

[Tim99]

For those of us who like to watch construction videos,  here is how I built my deck for the observatory.

 

[saac]

That's a lovely solid looking build you have there Tim, cracking setting too. Hope you have plenty clear skies to enjoy the fruit of your labour.

Jim

[MarsG76]

Hey Tim... hows the observatory going?

 

[MarsG76]

I'm planning my obsy build soon, hopefully it comes up at-least half as good as your one....

[sulaco]

First class work and great wee films of the construction process. Definitive "How To.." material. Thanks