I've deciced to build my own observatory. I want to house my cr6-gt. I guess my first order of business is designing a pier. Any ideas? Figure I've got all fall and winter to put this on paper.Have'nt decided between a dome or roll-off roof yet, I'm not sure it will matter.

                                                                                          thanx Bill

  to the forum Bill.

For a C6R-GT, a roll off would be a better observatory for that scope, unless you plan on building at least a 10ft diameter dome. Anything smaller would make for cramped conditions inside.

As for the pier. There are several options you can look at. You can buy one from somewhere like Pier Tech, which gets rather pricy; or you can construct your own by pouring one with concrete (with a sonotube) and mounting the mount head to it. That would be the most price effective application.

Kevin, thanx for the input. I also have a Celestron80, orionXT8, orion 25X100 binos and a 40 year old Sears and Roebuck 3 inch GEM,motor driven refractor. I've been retired now for 2 years now and think it's about time I got off my duff and peeked outside again.

                                                                                                   thanx again

                                                                                                               Bill