Storing Scope in Garden Shed

[Hans Joakim]

That’s my thinking too, Mike. Keeping the scopes in your shed also means small temperature differences and the scope will quickly equilibrate to outdoor temperature. If the scope needs to be brought into the house after a session out in the cold, I will bring the telescope soft case out as well, during observation time. At the end of the session, I cap the scope, place it in the cold bag, and bring that in to slowly heat up indoors. In the morning, I take the scope out of the bag and uncap it. I am not sure if this last step is really necessary, as I have never had issues with dew or moisture on the lens the next day. Best thing as I see it, however, is to have a shed where the scope can live. That way we spend daytime apart, and enjoy each others company during the night.

[Mr Spock]

The refractors are in the house for security. A shed can be broken into and they are very nickable. 
As for the 12" - good luck lifting that over a 6' fence and getting it down a narrow overgrown path with fences on both sides. 

I should add the shed and contents are insured just in case.

Refractors cool down very quickly and, for some reason, the Tak can be used almost straight away.

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

The refractors are in the house for security. 

Are they armed, then? 😊

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Are they armed, then? 😊

No, but they can make for excellent bludgeoning tools when a baseball or cricket bat isn't available. 😉

[GordonD]

I have kept my dob in a plastic garden storage shed for 3 years, and another Newtonian prior to that for several years. The shed is dry and well ventilated. Shower cap type covers at both ends are essential for keeping out creepy crawly beasties and the little slugs that are surprisingly mobile. Other than that it has been fine. As others have pointed out, this makes it much closer to ambient temperature out of the box.

When I bought the dob I planned to put it out there from the off. There was simply no other way a 12 inch dob (SW Go To) was ever going to be practical. Hats off to anyone who moves ones of these beasts from indoors out in to the garden for the evening. I chose to accept that it would deteriorate over time against not having one at all. Although in fact it has not yet suffered so I am ahead of where I thought I might be.

Rather against the grain, I have also kept my refractor out there as well for a the last 2 or 3 years. Now that is in a flight case (as supplied by SW - not fantastic quality but certainly good enough) so is much better protected and it hasn't suffered at all. I do definitely let it dry completely, usually indoors, if it gets damp in use before putting it away again, though.

The mount for the refractor and a previously owned EQ6, however have suffered some corrosion or rust in certain areas, especially on some of the screw threads. Even this has not been too bad and is only cosmetic. A bit of protective oil might have helped here. 

So after many years of moving stuff in and out of the house, I came to realise that making it as easy as possible to get the kit ready for observing meant it would be used more and I would enjoy their use more. And that balance has proved good for me.

Of course if I had one of those lovely Taks, or some LZOS kit (drool ...) I might feel differently abut that balance.