Pulled my telescope out of a three-four year storage to find a very nasty surprise. At some point in time, a lot of moisture got inside the hard-case, and mold started growing on stuff. The case is shot, boxes that I had in it were nasty, but the worst part was that the moisture and mold had worked its way onto the main corrector lens, and devastatingly on to primary objective mirror. Since it wasn't in a commercial storage unit, I can't claim anything on it. Mold secretes acid which can etch into glass, and destroy optical coatings. Meade no longer offers replacement optics for my scope, which run upward of $550 anyway. Lots of aluminum oxide on some of the eye pieces and filters.

Couldn't find anyone who would clean/refurbish it for several days of searching. Found an expert down in AK who does this as a side business to running an observatory and he pretty much told me it's as bad as it gets. Also have a lot of rusty screws to replace, and I'm hoping the motor drives still work. Some things seemed to be affected more than others.

Good news? Maybe. I cleaned off my corrector to find that the violating stuff had not etched into the coatings. But I have the worst to do yet which is the primary mirror. This will be very difficult to get at, and clean without damage, and even more so destroying the alignment. I'm going to give it a shot though. So the end of the story will either get posted here or in the Woot thread.

 

Love telescopes, haven't messed with them since I lived in Missouri (8+ years ago)

Be bitching to have a night s2k meet on a night of a meteor shower.

 

Got a tough decision.

Found out my loaner won't let me have just comprehensive on the S2k for winter storage, claiming it has to be "FULL coverage". Tried argueing the fact that it is, just not collision which doesnt matter because it will be in a garage. No go.

So, either I waste $250/m on collision insurance so they dont take the car.......Or i can drive it through winter as my Passat went from winter beater to a pile of shit.

So, Plan A:
Buy Snow tires for the S2k, get an underbody wash done after every major snowfall and once every 2 weeks. Sell the Passat to someone so they can deal with the problems.

Plan B:
Spend the $500 bucks more to get the Passat street safe, but waste the $250/m on the insurance.

 

If you're looking for opinions, I would personally say Plan A. I would imagine you can break even between selling the Passat and buying winter wheels and tires... maybe even come out ahead. Plan A just seems rather like a waste of money considering you have to pay the insurance anyway.

Just my $.02

 

That is the option I was leaning towards also.

Anyone wanna loan me a Hard top

 

We can troop treacherous Wisconsin winters together.... but i am not even sure if I will be able to afford any new rubber

 

If you are driving your S through the winter you are going to want to.

That reminds me, Should I put some sandbags in the trunk for weight?

 

That's bs. Full coverage is not necessary, the homeowner's insurance will cover the car if something happens to it while it is stored.

I'd drop it to storage ins and not say anything.

 

I dont have homeowners as I live in an Apartment.

I can't not tell my loaner. The insurance company sends all changes of coverage to them since they are the Lien.

 

Still seems like bs, even Honda Financial allows for storage ins. Oh, and renters insurance would cover the car too.