Clear Skys Inc.
P.O. Box 378, Almont , Michigan 48003
Clear Skys Inc.P.O. Box 378, Almont , Michigan 48003
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Clear
Skys, Inc. Observatory “Review”
by Tim Crawford In
1999, at a location approximately 40 air miles north of
Anchorage, AK, I constructed a 10 ft. x 2 ft. roll-off roof
observatory in which to mount a new Meade LX200 12 in scope
on an 8-inch diameter Le Sueur Pier with the Le Sueur
adjustable polar plate (http://www.astropier.com/).
This
worked quite well for me as there were few neighbors’
lights to be concerned about and I
liked having the open sky overhead. When the Northern
Lights would sometimes interfere with observing it was nice
to be able to sit down and simply enjoy the overhead show
while it lasted. In late 2002 we retired and moved to Arch
Cape, OR (on the North Coast, about 20 miles south of
Seaside, OR). Our new home here is only three lots
off of the Pacific Ocean and has a small backyard and
adjoining neighbors. It
was my experience with the roll-off roof observatory that in
high humidity periods (which were limited to about three
weeks in the fall near Anchorage) the dew was like rain
inside the open room. Based upon this experience, nearby
homes, a small yard and desirous of minimizing the exposure
of all my equipment to the salt air the only practical
choice for me was to purchase a dome and place it on a deck.
I searched the publications for dome manufactures as well as
the Internet and secured as much information as possible
about each manufacture, models and pricing. I also joined a
yahoo news group, “Observatories.” I was seeking the
largest dome that I could reasonably afford to purchase. I
went ahead and poured the pier cement into the ground and
mounted the LeSuer pier that I had brought with me from
Alaska. After this was done I mounted the scope and ran a
plumb bob off the DEC axis to determine the center of the
deck/observatory and what the southern pier offset would be.
Once this was done I then made a rough circle layout of
various sized domes, i.e., 6 feet, 7 feet, 8 feet, 9 feet
and 10 feet. From these observations I felt that I needed, at a minimum, for my comfort a structure whose base would be somewhere between 8 and 9 feet in diameter. I also wanted something with a reasonable wall height so that I did not have to crawl in or step over a high lip and something with, preferably, a door that I could simply open. I looked at a lot of domes that came close to meeting my needs and some of them were very nice, for the price, but just a bit small. I was giving very serious consideration to a 10-foot “Home dome”, which is a very nice dome with lots of automation options, but somewhat at a standstill as it was really more than I wanted to pay and I did not really require any of the automation options. Then
on the yahoo “Observatories” group one of the members
informed everyone that he had a Clear Skys, a new mfg, dome
on order. I immediately jumped to their website and
downloaded
the specifications : http://www.clearskysinc.com
The dome they were advertising was an
8 1/2 foot model with 54” high walls with a door access.
The overall zenith height, inside, was 106 inches with a
24” wide slot. Not only were the specifications within my
search range the introductory price, at that time, was only
$ 4500.00, FOB. I emailed them with questions regarding wind
loading and ability to withstand heavy rain along with
several others. The Answers provided were prompt and
encouraging. I then inquired as to manufacture time and
shipping costs. Based
upon these responses I immediately placed an order. Before
actually starting the deck for the dome I had to first
determine the floor height around the already installed 63-
inch Le Sueur pier. I finally settled on a pier height of 43
inches above the floor by using ladders and boards at
various heights while I moved the scope around on its polar
mounting to try and arrive at, what for me, was a reasonable
height compromise; then I built the decking and supports to
the determined
height around the pier. Also I had to construct the deck
around the pier using the plumb bob determined center from
the center of the Declination axis of the SCT rather than
the pier center. The offset of the pier, for my latitude,
was around 15 inches to the South.
The distributor kept me informed with regular emails of the status of my observatory construction and the anticipated ship date; I really appreciated this. I
drove up and down the coast, approximately, 40 miles in
either direction checking with business and trucking firms
in hopes of find one that would allow me to have the carton
shipped to them where they could offload for me and then let
me disassemble and remove the individual sections. After
several frustrating days I pulled into a warehousing/packing
business on the waterfront in Astoria, OR, which is about 40
miles north of my residence. The general Manager, Dan
Supple, of Astoria Warehousing, Inc., was very sympathetic
to my plight and readily agreed to allow me to ship it to
their loading dock where they would unload it for me and
allow me to dissemble it so that I could remove the
individual sections into a truck. Wahoo! The Observatory was
finally on the way. The folks at Astoria Warehousing called
me when it came in and I told them I would be
there the next day or the very next at the latest. I
contacted the unemployment office in Astoria
and located two day laborers to help me uncrate the
observatory and load it into a 17 foot U-Haul rental truck
and then to help me with the assembly. After uncrating,
which was a fast and easy job do to the excellent manner in
which the individual pieces had been packaged up, the folks
at Astoria
Warehousing told us to leave the large pile of crating wood
as they would burn it with their own. After cleaning up I
tried to pay Dan but he would not accept any. Wow! That was
unexpected; he told me that maybe some day I could do
him a favor; I sure hope that I will be able to. It is not
often that we come across such generous individuals.
The
next day returned to Astoria to pickup my helpers and we set
about assembling the Observatory
in my backyard. I had pre purchased eight 1/2 inch stainless
steel bolts with which to install each individual wall
section as well as two extra 1/2-inch stainless steel lag
screws for each section. Given our high winds I wanted to be
double sure that the wall sections would be fully
secured. Before setting up the wall sections we drew a circle around the deck boards with the same diameter as the inside of the wall footing so we would have a good point to begin the assembly and centering process (a pencil on a string works good for this purpose when one end is tied to a nail at the center point). I also laid one of the wall sections on a 4’x8’ piece of 1/2” plywood and drew a line around the inside of a wall section in a number of places (for different widths) so that I could then cutout a table to fit the wall curve. As events unfolded I ended up making two tables for the inside; each table was approximately 15 inches wide with one being about 60 inches in length and the other about 50 inches in length. I used 1 1/2 inch dowels for the front legs on each side and rested the rear portions of the table on metal shelf holders bolted with stainless steel bolts to the observatory wall. Before actual bolting of the individual wall sections we also stood all four of them up around the mark we had made and made a couple of small adjustments in the mark as required by actual placement. The assembly instructions required that each wall section be calked at their assembly joints; we did this and bolted the individual sections together. When they were all bolted we were then able to re-center the whole assembly before calking the bottom and bolting it down to the deck. This final re-centering was also important as I had predrilled holes for the computer/scope cables in the decking. Due to the height of the decking itself I ran to a neighbors so that we could have a fourth set of hands to help lift the dome up (two on the ground and two on the deck). The dome was a perfect fit and as the walls and deck were level it rolled around the top with a gentle push. I really do not think that the total assembly times exceed four hours.
First light was on 6/23/03. After a polar alignment check I slewed to the crown jewel of the summer Skies, M13. The dome slit mechanism worked very well and I am quite comfortable with how it operates; you just have to be careful not to let the pull ropes out of your hands as the two sections can fall to their stops once Mr. Gravity takes over. Everything
worked as well as I could have expected. The interior room
was still quite adequate for myself and several visitors,
even with the two tables I had installed. While it is a bit
tight on the south side of the Pier, due to the offset, I
seldom have occasion to view from that area.
I was very happy with the observatory, that is until our first heavy rain. The darn door leaked around the original seal and I was annoyed about it. I immediately contacted Clear Skys, Inc. as well as well as several other purchasers about this issue. Clear Skys responded that they were going to test the door seals and see what they could come up with. The first fix that they sent me was not effective; however, the second fix was and completely solved the problem with no further incidents occurring. In addition to a new seal for the wall section of the door they also had me install a drip edge above the door. Future purchasers should have no problem in this regard as they have already incorporated the changes in their production. I should also mention that I have had no leaks around the dome slit-track area at all, even in some real gully washers. So far the structure has endured up to 70 mile an hour winds with no problems whatsoever (it is, of course, important, to remember to attach the interior dome tie down ropes before vacating after use); I have worried a bit about memory set on the wheels due to a slight pressure from the tie down ropes but so far, after about 8 months, there is no problem there as the wheels seem to retain their original rolling smoothness. I am a very happy camper with the Clear Skys, Inc. Product and would not hesitate to purchase another one again. In my experience they also have both excellent before and after market support. I am also quite proud of the 8’x8’ mural, in our backyard, painted as a surprise for me by our granddaughter, Alyssa Crawford, during her summer vacation. Contact us for information at
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