[ATMoB-discuss] fwd: I'd appreciate any help regarding lifting and carrying my heavy 10" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain

[E.Talmadge Mentall]

Hello Michael,

Unless you're planning on building an observatory to permanently mount
your 10" Meade LX200 GPS, I'd suggest that you consider selling it to get
something smaller. Twenty-five years ago (1982) I bought the very first
10" Meade Model 2120 Schmidt-Cassegrain that was manufactured. (Serial
No. 100501). At the time I had a Celestron C8 with that abominable
non-adjustable tripod. Seeking to buy a better tripod, I ran across
Meade's first ad in S&T featuring their new 10" SCT. It had a perfect
tripod and two extra inches of aperture. I said something like, "Wow! Gee
Whiz! Golly! Gosh!" and ordered one. At the time I lived on the second
floor of a house in Waban, and I had to go down 2 flights of stairs to
get to the driveway. When the telescope arrived a few months later, I got
my first taste of carrying a 57 lb. telescope down those stairs and
wrestling it into the back seat ot my car, and then climbing the stairs
twice more to bring down the tripod, wedge, and eyepiece and drive
corrector accessory case, etc. Being a young lad of 54 years, it took
about a dozen observing sessions before that initial irrational
exuberance at possessing a new toy began to wear off. I began to look
askance at facing another session of heavy lifting up and down the stairs
to go outside for maybe an hour's observing. The Cloud Gods also seemed
to become increasingly churlish. After having clear skies right through
supper time, I'd go through my Heavy Lifting routine only to have a cloud
continent rapidly cover the sky the very moment that I was ready to
observe. More than once I was whimpering as I carried everything upstairs
again. I used the telescope less and less. Just loading the telescope in
the car began to wear me out. 'Twasn't fun anymore. Mario discovered that
I was in dire need of cardiac angioplasty. Even after that procedure was
done, I shied away from the Heavy Lifting, and used my 5" f/5 Rich Field
refractor.

In 1993, I bought my 5" Meade APO refractor, and the 10" SCT went unused.
The last time I used it was 13 years ago on the night that the comet hit
Jupiter. I outdid myself, and set up the 5" APO and the 10" SCT side by
side to compare the images. After a double bypass in 2004, I don't even
consider using the 10".

The telescope that I use most now is my Celestron NexStar 5. It lives on
its tripod, and I can pick the whole thing up and walk outside with it on
one shoulder, with my case of eyepieces in the other hand.

I've discovered that the force of gravity has gotten a lot stronger in
the past 25 years. When I first got the 10" SCT, I could pick it up
easily, but now it's so heavy that I avoid lifting it at all. I know it's
not me. It's all gravity's fault! Your 10" LX200 GPS is even heavier than
my Model 2120, and it's going to get worse as gravity gets stronger over
the next years. 

I bought the 8" LX200 GPS about 5 years ago, and was dismayed to discover
that it weighed almost as much as my 10"SCT. The LX200s are built like
battleships. I'd suggest that you look at getting an 8" LX90 GPS. It only
weighs 33 lbs.and you'll use it more.

Tal
 

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:19:05 -0400 Brewster <b.lamacchia at comcast.net>
writes:
Received via the club general email. Please cc: michael-bloom at rcn.com in
your response as Michael is currently not subscribed to the list.

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Hello,

 I’m hoping you can provide some advice that will help me set my 10”
Meade LX200 GPS on an equatorial wedge up in the field.

I’ve had this telescope for 2 years and never really used it.  It’s
turned out to be as heavy as it was advertised to be! I keep the
telescope in a JMI case with handles and pneumatic tires.  Conceptually,
this is like a wheelbarrow.

 
I’d like to put the telescope in its case into the back of my SUV. I
could use ramps to load the case into the SUV, but I’m concerned about
backing the case down the ramps in the dark and having it fall over!
Mostly, though, I’d like to find a way to hoist the telescope out of its
case when I finally get it out into the field. The hoist could lift the
telescope up to a height of about 5 ½ feet so I could position it on top
of the wedge.

 
Have any of you ever needed to lift a heavy portable telescope with just
one person? I know the idea of a tripod lift or hoist might seem extreme,
but I’m finding the telescope increasingly too heavy for me to lift by
myself.

 
Any help or info would be appreciated.

 Thank you,

Michael Bloom