Warm Feet!

[sbooder]

Here is a little tip for anyone with their first scope with the colder nights approaching. Get youself a piece of carpet or as I use a piece of coconut matting to stand on. You will not believe how cold your feet will get, even with all the thermal socks and good boots in the world, but this little bit of extra insulation not only keeps your feet warm, it is softer on them too.

[brianb]

Good call but make the mat big enough to catch dropped eyepieces etc ... save a lot of money that way, especially if your observing surface is concrete (which helps keep you feet dry). Arctic mukluks keep you feet dry & toasty even when the temp is below zero Fahrenheit.

[sbooder]

I never stand on concrete or paving with the scope, all that mucking about with rudder vibration thingies.

But good call on the eyepiece advice.

[Astro_Baby]

I just have really decent hiking boots and thermal socks - never feel the cold at all. The boots cost almost what a scope cost as I recall but worth every penny for toastie toes

[brianb]

I never stand on concrete or paving with the scope, all that mucking about with rudder vibration thingies.

Pointed steel tripod leg ends ... no movement therefore no need for vibration damping pads. Drill three small holes in the right place for the tripod leg points to drop in to & your equatorial mount becomes self aligning.

[Talitha]

Quite by mistake, i found something i like better than carpeting.

I was in the garage working on one of my my windscreen panels, and needed something to place on the floor to sit on. There was a sheet of 1/2" thick styrofoam (padding from a delivery box) so i cut a 2'x2' square... wow, was it warm! It not only prevented the concrete's coldness from reaching me, it actually seemed to intensify my body heat and radiate it back to me like a non-electric heating pad.

That's when the brainstorm hit... there was a 2" thick 4'x8' sheet of styrofoam insulation laying around, so i cut a 2'x2' piece of it and used it that night to stand on out at the Starpad. It worked beautifully... much better than the carpet pieces i'd been using all these years. The added height also helped me reach the eyepiece instead of going tippy-toe, so i cut two more squares to stand on for added height instead of crouching down while on the first step of the ladder... much easier on my spine this way.

I'm considering cutting the thinner stuff into foot-shaped pieces to use as insoles for my boots this winter... hope it doesn't squeek too much when i walk on it.

[sbooder]

"I'm considering cutting the thinner stuff into foot-shaped pieces to use as insoles for my boots this winter"

ooh. i like that idea.