Underwater Dob

[DRT]

I have been thinning the heard in the past couple of weeks and this evening my Orion Optics UK F11 6" Dob caught my eye in the corner of the shed. 

This big lanky beast has not seen the sky for months and I decided to dig it out to photograph for the Classifieds. 

To my horror, I noticed a wet patch in the shed roof directly above the cloth dust cap, which was soaking wet. On removal I looked down to see my beautiful 1/6th wave mirror under 3" of water ??

I have now removed and disassembled the mirror cell, cleaned the mirror and laid all the bits out to dry. The felt flocking in the tube might need to go if it doesn't dry out well. 

It looks like this is now a keeper as I wouldn't pass it on after this happening. 

On the plus side, my OOUK F4 VX12 that was sitting two feet away from the F11 6" is bone dry and safe! ?

 

 

[jabeoo1]

Sounds like a close shave Derek.  Caught in time I hope (well done!), looks like you will just have to start using it

Maybe a blessing in disguise.  I am not one to get bogged down in detail but sometimes things just happen for a reason and sometimes reveal themselves in strange ways.  Get it out in the sun and under the dark sky, you maybe had just forgotten about it and it wanted attention. 

[Stu]

A perfect reason to hang on to it now Derek! Scary how quickly things can change or go wrong, so I guess a lesson to all of us to check things regularly.

I hope it dries out well and you get some use out of it soon. Weather looks promising this week!  

[DRT]

Thanks for the encouragement guys - I suppose I'll just have to take your advice and get back to looking at wonderful things now that I've saved it from drowning ?

[Beulah]

Ooof!

The things we do to stave off temptation to sell our gear...

 

[nightfisher]

it will be fine, still waiting to get proper first light with my 6" F8 newt

[Alan White]

Blimey, that was a close shave.

Glad it’s not ruined Derek. 

I had noticed the herd thinning and this confirms all this cloud does none of us any good.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Fix the shed. 

[DRT]

1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Fix the shed. 

New she'd planned this summer ?