Biggest setup you'd hump regularly

[saac]

4 minutes ago, MalcolmP said:

True ! though I would have said "in prospect" on Wed. , only really in sight on gruntle day ( Friday for our non-English chums, derived from disgruntle (Monday) )

Re- back packing : more usually to "Yomp" these days.

 

I always cultivated the "glass half full" approach, that and long sight placed the weekend in focus by Wednesday  

Re yomping, in the finest tradition of the RAF I  prefer a "bimble" 

Jim 

[radiofm74]

Until now we've seen some large rigs being yomped around, but there seems to be a little fluctuation as to the distance involved. OP said "5-7 min walk with my kit" to a car, or to the actual observing spot. We might add "in one trip" as additional condition. Might seem lazy, but after a day's work a second trip might be a significant hindrance… 

I stick by my 8" but am curious to hear from people moving larger mirrors… 

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

For me, it's not about size. As long as it's a Tak...

[saac]

I wouldn't say it is regularly used, maybe 2 or 3 sessions in the winter months, but here's the school's 16 inch Dob.  Haven't weighed it yet but it must be north of "lots of" kgs and at the moment it is entirely "humped" around by hand.  There is a long term plan to build some sort of wheeled cart for the base at least.  If we are using  a remote site which involves a bit of a walk from the car park then I take along a sac truck to carry the mirror box.  It is a bit of an effort to move but at least we have more than enough helpers to share the load. 

Jim

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

Just now, saac said:

I wouldn't say it is regularly used, maybe 2 or 3 sessions in the winter months, but here's the school's 16 inch Dob.  Haven't weighed it yet but it must be north of "lots of" kgs and at the moment it is entirely "humped" around by hand.  There is a long term plan to build some sort of wheeled cart for the base at least.  If we are using  a remote site which involves a bit of a walk from the car park then I take along a sac truck to carry the mirror box.  It is a bit of an effort to move but at least we have more than enough helpers to share the load. 

Jim

Gosh that's beautiful. Is that a Waite Renegade?

[saac]

23 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Gosh that's beautiful. Is that a Waite Renegade?

Yes although it's a diy effort inspired by Gordon Waite's design. 

Jim 

Edited June 9 by saac

[ONIKKINEN]

I'm hauling an 8'' newtonian, AZ-EQ6 and all the related imaging kit to my car and drive out of the city to use it. I also carry a 90mm refractor for visual use sometimes, but its not something i bring with me to every trip. Not much hauling from the front door to the car, but sometimes the elevator in my building is out of order and i carry it down from the 6th floor which lets just say "builds character".

Plan is to soon upgrade to a 10'' newtonian, but i doubt it will be all that more cumbersome to carry than the 8''. The plan might also change, as it has many times in the past few years.

[M40]

Taking astro gear somewhere to me means holidays so I am limited to what fits in the car with the holiday stuff. Doggie has the luggage area leaving me to be creative with the remaining space. My area is the space where, now from a time gone by, the spare wheel used to live. I  can get it all in a backpack apart from the battery and the 85mm refractor and I can "lump" it all in one trip. Depending on the where, the skywatcher tripod sits on the backseat, but that does prove challenging to lump the whole in one go from the car.

[LondonNeil]

I continue to be impressed! Particularly those shifting big dobs often. I gave my 12" classic tube to my brother and nephew at they leave it in the dinning room and just open the sliding door to the garden and lift it out, for me it was load the car. 

Now it's az gtix,  st120 and mak127,  small trolley made from an old Pram,  and I tow it to the open green space at the end of the street.   I feel quite lazy compared to many here!

I look longingly at C8s currently but the realisation that it's not just the 5.6kg of ota but 22kg of tripod, mount,  counterweight and ota and my brain says 'no!'  Some here must by humping more weight and bulk though,  well done!

[LondonNeil]

Oh and humping vs lumping, a regional thing?

[saac]

3 minutes ago, LondonNeil said:

Oh and humping vs lumping, a regional thing?

Dunno, but humping here tends to mean a heavy lift action while lumping tends to imply what you do after the humping - ie lump it over over there ie dump it over there. 

Jim  

[niallk]

5 hours ago, saac said:

 

That's a beaut! 👍😎

[niallk]

One scope => hump & lump it

15" dob:

[radiofm74]

3 hours ago, LondonNeil said:

I continue to be impressed! Particularly those shifting big dobs often. I gave my 12" classic tube to my brother and nephew at they leave it in the dinning room and just open the sliding door to the garden and lift it out, for me it was load the car. 

Now it's az gtix,  st120 and mak127,  small trolley made from an old Pram,  and I tow it to the open green space at the end of the street.   I feel quite lazy compared to many here!

I look longingly at C8s currently but the realisation that it's not just the 5.6kg of ota but 22kg of tripod, mount,  counterweight and ota and my brain says 'no!'  Some here must by humping more weight and bulk though,  well done!

I do not want to stoke a fire, but my very lightweight Vixen Advanced Polaris and APZ can hold a C8 without trouble. Not cheap, at the limit, yes, and you'll have some shake at high power while focusing if you're on the EQ configuration, but overall a very good, very portable 8" rig. (I prefer EQ because once you have focused, tracking will be steady and smooth…). 

 

 

Of course a C6 is even more portable and goes even easier on my Vixen AP, and still has goodly aperture… This is my airline-portable setup. 

[Captain Scarlet]

4 hours ago, niallk said:

One scope => hump & lump it

15" dob:

Mrs Niallk in the boot I presume? 😁

[Captain Scarlet]

More seriously, to answer the OP, I hoik my 12” f/5.3 solid tube plus AZ-EQ6 and Planet tripod counterweights eyepiece case etc around to the field behind my house in a wheelbarrow trip and a tube-carry trip. Easy whilst setting up ahead of time, more tedious packing up in the early hours.

Magnus 

[AstralFields]

12" solid tube is no issue whatsoever for me and my Hyundai i30 Hatchback.

Have you heard the saying that everybody keeps repeating?

"The best telescope is the one that you use the most?"

No other hobby says anything like that. If people going on exotic cruises said something similar, they would end up in a boat every weekend in their local fish pond rather than an exotic cruise once a year or so.

Took me a while to figure out it is absolute nonsense. I'd much rather take my 12" once per month on a clear night at a nice Bortle 3 sky outside of the city, than observe twice a week from my small balcony with some small APO refractor. So I am in the process of selling my 8" and having the 12" as my only telescope.

 

[bosun21]

24 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

More seriously, to answer the OP, I hoik my 12” f/5.3 solid tube plus AZ-EQ6 and Planet tripod counterweights eyepiece case etc around to the field behind my house in a wheelbarrow trip and a tube-carry trip. Easy whilst setting up ahead of time, more tedious packing up in the early hours.

Magnus 

Very similar to myself although I use an old shopping trolley. 2 trips does everything I need.

[Paz]

I've taken all my scopes and mounts away from home but my dobsonian the least. I don't often do dark sites as I don't like being in the dark in the middle of nowhere on my own.

Usually I observe away from home to get better seeing or a better horizon than I have at home or just to go somewhere nice, and often if I am taxi driving and know I will have time to kill I'll take a set up and find a park somewhere to observe fromwhile I'm waiting.

Which mount and scope is driven by how much time I have , how far from the car I will be setting up, and hiw small it has to pack down.

If its close to the car a skytee 2 or eq5 is ok. If its far (over 50m) then a Porta 2 or a Newwer carbon tripod is used.

For scopes if it's close to the car then a C8 or 125mm refractor is fine, if it's far then up to a 120mm f5 refractor or 127mm Maksutov is ok.

If itbhas to pack small then it's a Neewer tripod and a 72mm refractor.

 

[Elp]

4 hours ago, LondonNeil said:

I look longingly at C8s currently but the realisation that it's not just the 5.6kg of ota but 22kg of tripod, mount,  counterweight and ota and my brain says 'no!' 

Ive been using CW mounts for a few years and got fed up with carrying them out/loading them etc, also moving setup around the yard to get to specific targets. So I decided to change to HD mounts, and CF tripods. All that "stress" is now non existent, and with the zwo mount (and other dual drive HDs mounts) no balancing needed either. Just extend tripod, screw on mount, load OTA, plug in 12v power pack, roughly point north (if using in alt az mode), switch on, go. Probably takes 2-3 minutes to build and start.

For more simple setup I use my manual alt az mount. Again no CWs though they do help with azimuth smooth rotation.

Edited June 9 by Elp

[Elp]

4 hours ago, saac said:

Dunno, but humping here tends to mean a heavy lift action while lumping tends to imply what you do after the humping - ie lump it over over there ie dump it over there. 

Jim  

I didn't think the hump related to heaving a mass and generally concur with what you've said, hump sounds like a lift and lumping is a carrying around action ("what are they lumping around in that bag?").

Edited June 9 by Elp

[LondonNeil]

From the OED

humping, in hump, v.

To hoist or carry (a bundle) upon the back: chiefly to hump one's swag (or drum), to shoulder one's bundle. Also more generally, to carry or shift 

[VNA]

Hello, Bortle 5, 6" refractor a 10" SCT on a CGX mount stay outside as there is no rain to speak of for at least 6-8 month of the year.
If it were to rain, I cover the set-up plus a garden umbrella! A benefit of living in Northern California!

In this context, humping a telescope is not a good idea particularly when cold. 
Remember the kid who licked a very cold metal post?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

5 hours ago, VNA said:

Hello, Bortle 5, 6" refractor a 10" SCT on a CGX mount stay outside as there is no rain to speak of for at least 6-8 month of the year.

Living in the UK, as many of us do here, this is an astonishing thought...

[Stu]

My most readily ‘humped’ large scope was a Sumerian Alkaid 14” which was unbelievably portable for such a large aperture. Best trip was down to Pembrokeshire on a family holiday, and it fitted in the boot easily along everything else needed! Should never have sold it!