My "soft top" observatory nearing completion.

[Carbon Brush]

I was a bit bothered about the weight of snow deforming the roof, as it a bit on the thin side. But reaching over with a yardbrush from a stepladder alongside shifted most snow in a couple of minutes.

[NickH]

Problem is...being there to do it...if you're away...

Anyway...it's a nice idea, with that one caveat

[Doley68]

And you know that for sure...

Reason is, my hard top obsy last year which has an angled run off roof, still accumulated about 7 inches of snow, which over that area, I suspect weighs a wee bit...especially when it then partially melted and then refroze to form something a lot harder

Not on the blue "wendy house" one...v cool!...on the other one I mean

Hello all. I have been busy for a few days so have only just read the debate about snow and if may be a problem for this design.

I have three removable hardwood supports which mainly stop sagging & water collection which works very well but it also gives the roof a lot of strength. I read somewhere that 1'' of snow would fall as 1mm of rain so I'm confident that it will take 6'' or so of snow. If we are expecting more then I may have to give it a sweep with a soft broom! If it does the thaw & refreeze trick it shouldn't matter as it all weighs the same.

Hopefully though, this winter we won't be testing all this!

[Moonshane]

you could get around the snow issue with the soft-top version (and strengthen the roof of a hardtop version) with some removable beams eg 3 or 4x2 and going from the apex down to the front. my mate has done this in his and they work really well.

[NickH]

broom! If it does the thaw & refreeze trick it shouldn't matter as it all weighs the same.

Hopefully though, this winter we won't be testing all this!

Hope it all works out!

nice idea for sure

[Astrokev]

I'm giving some thought to my first Obs build and this is a simple and effective concept. The only thing that perhaps puts me off is the security aspect, as mentioned earlier in the thread.

Kevin

[Thunder]

Nice solution, Well done.

My thinking is that it is only a wooden shed and if someone wants to get in then they will, whatever the roof is made from.

Sad but true I fear.

I live in same town as you, I'm not looking on google earth to spot it, honest

[JamesM]

Just an observation luke, I noticed that Doley has added guttering to the side of his shed with a slight lift off the bottom of his sheeting in his later pictures. I noticed on your obs that you have no guttering and a window sitting below your sheeting - have you had any rain coming in?

James

[Doley68]

That's looking good! I based the the roof of my obsy on your design (see below, my obsy converted from the children's play house), and it is also working really well. Watertight and windproof and really quick to open and set up.

The only issue I have (and I'd like to know if you have the same problem) is that when I roll up the roof, condensation sometimes gathers on the PVC and drips on my equipment! I've sort of got round the problem by rolling it up at a slight angle, so that any water runs to one side, or by rolling it right over the back of the obsy but that is a bit of a pain when you're trying to close up at 2am in the dark!

Hello.

Yes, I followed your build with interest as you decided to go down a similar route as myself. I don't seem to suffer from condensation to much although after a couple of hours the roof is damp. Maybe the darker colour helps. Perhaps a beach towel tucked under the roof roll may be all that you need to prevent the annoying drips.

[Doley68]

Nice solution, Well done.

I live in same town as you, I'm not looking on google earth to spot it, honest

Hello, glad to know I'm not alone around here!