Mount Cover?

[Kurt A. Casby]

Greetings all!

I am wondering if any of you have any experience with, or opinions of leaving a telescope mount outside semi-permanently. I am thinking of leaving a German equatorial mount (a Losmandy G11) sort of permanently set up outside on my 'observing' deck. I would buy (Telegizmo's?) or make a cover for it, of course, but it would be stuck out there rain or shine, day and night.

The thought is to have it all aligned etc. so I would just have to carry out an optical tube and an extension cord. What do you folks think? Dumb idea?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Clear Skies,
Kurt

PS: I promise this will be my last dumb question for a while!

[Ron Schmit]

Kurt:

A deck is a tricky mount for a scope. Much vibration will cloud your vision... (oops, sorry. Too much RotS)

I've never seen a mount right to a deck that has worked. Imagine someone walking on those long planks and all the mechanical advantage to bear on shaking the mount. The only one that I've seen work was one that went THROUGH the deck and not attached to it in any way (like the pier at Yerkes).

By the way, make sure the thing can breath. I've seen a lot of permanent mounts with a lot of permanent rust.

[Kurt A. Casby]

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the comments! I have been using this deck for over 11 years now, and you are 100% correct. It is, shall we say, less than ideal! Last year, I had decking replaced and now it is even worse. But, I still use it!

My thought was to save time and effort (naturally lazy!) by having a mount already sitting (standing?) polar aligned out on the deck.

That's not rust, it 'patina! :0)

Thanks again,
Clear Skies,
Kurt

[Kirk]

Vibrations aside, you can leave it out if you want but a cover would be a good idea. I'm thinking of how many outdoor BBQ grills I have seen rust away into nothing. If you want it to look nice you could probably sew a bag easily and attach it with bungee cords. A small tarp could easy work as well if you're not handy with a sewing machine.

~Kirk