How to move an observatory
Apr29
Serenity II rolling off to the east
It has been in its current location for approximately two years. In that time some of the thoughts and assumptions of that time have shown to be wrong. In its initial 2 year ago design the 8′ deck became a 10′ deck in the hopes of rolling it further away from the mount.
Initially the roll off building was meant to go to the east, where it would be under the treeline in the line of sight from the telescope to the roof peak. In reality, measurements later showed that it was far taller than the treeline and did in fact often block planetary objects on the Ecliptic.
So the decision was made to move it.. more specifically to rotate it 90 degrees CCW to the north. That would clear up the eastern horizon.
Just before the day of the move, more though went into this, more measurements were done, and it was realized that moving 90 deg CCW would in fact cause a new problem… Polaris may be obstructed by the roof peak. The actual measurement from the primary mirror in its home/park/facing polaris position was around 40 degrees. This was close enough that all things considered.. was too close.
So at the last minute, the move was changed from 90 deg CCW to 45 deg CCW.
This would be the best of both worlds, opening up the eastern horizon and keeping the northern horizon and Polaris accessible.
The move occurred on Friday 2023 April 28 and took about 6 hours start to finish.
The process was basically to jack the deck and building up, support them on 2×8 wood and slide/push them around in place.
New holes were dug, gravel and sand laid down, then the two deck blocks of each foot was moved around into place.
The deck was lowered, locking into place in the deck blocks.
Levelling was performed using shims on the top of the deck block.
Done!
Many pain pills later and rest followed!
This is the new position of the observatory:
 looking east |  looking NE |  looking north |