I just ordered the Smart Astronomy ClearView Observatory Tent, it has an 8 foot diameter and should be enough room to set up two scopes and equipment for
Smart Astronomy ClearView Observatory Tent
The height should work, my backyard is surrounded by trees and there is little to no wind in it in mild 5-to-10-mile hour wind forecasts. My house is directly to the east, no wind at all from there. My tallest rig, the EQ6-R is about 6.25 feet with the guide scope on top in its current config. I should be able to get it to just over 6'. It's creeped up in height with each trip out to setup and level the tripod. The AZ-EQ5 will be completely inside the tent, no issues there. Placement of both mounts will be challenging and fun. The tent should be here sometime next week. I also ordered anti vibration pads for both mounts, for the wind and to help not tear up the floor.SkyHiker wrote: ↑Tue Apr 04, 2023 2:51 pm Way to go Chris.
If you are setting up on dirt, here's a great idea for super stable and reproducible tripod feet placement. The guy sets up in 3 minutes with no polar alignment needed because of that.
I hope the 6' height is enough for you, I would need 7' myself. I may need to get an Astromania or Telegizmo cover for star parties.
Kind of hard not to go over that weight limit, even on a EQ3 since the mount and tripod usually are close to that already! But I believe you're talking about long term usage, which these would be. I haven't used vibration pads in the past. My primary purpose is to protect the tent floor. I figured they would be a good choice and the anti-vibration features as a bonus. I can also see long term usage hardening the inner core permanently as well. Thank you for the info.Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Sun Apr 09, 2023 4:23 am Hopefully the tent works for you Chris.
A word on the vibration suppression pads, if your setup is over 20-25 lbs in weight they will not really do anything as the soft rubber becomes to compressed between the cup and pad base.
Sorry I missed this. Yes, I have, it went up the 16th and it's been up the entire time with equipment in place. I'm going to sit down this weekend and write it up. Lots of images to go through and perhaps an entertaining video of my putting it up the first time aruond... Should probably be rated MA... I should have a full update on it tomorrow.
I think you just explained the two tablespoons of water in the middle of the floor, nowhere near a door, the one time I did find any unexplained water. Collected water by the tripod pads once as well. My yard gets quite dewy starting not much after midnight. I also have a plastic keyboard and plastic collects dew like a magnet. Didn't note any residue on it when I opened up. So, I would have to say no at this point.
Same puddle of water different day, same location. It's not the rain fly since it's been rotated at least once. Close up and the seepage is from the moist soil, this is the only location in the tent doing this. Water table must be extremely close to the surface at this point and whatever sealant the manufacturer used must be weak in this one location. As soon as I started walking around in the tent and the material pulled away from the ground, it drained and dried out. I'll be adding a water sealant to all the surfaces. There is no dew on any of the equipment or inner surfaces of the tent.
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