Patrick has the right idea. Mass isn't what's keeping the scope from sinking, it's the "footprint" of the pad that keeps things "floating". You simply spread the weight of the telescope legs over a larger surface area. Plywood travels *much* easier than stone. On 5/22/07, Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:

No, I didn't go to Vernon because I was worried about soft ground. But I really like the idea of buying stone from Western Garden. I like your idea too, but I would never dare use a round saw. Thanks, Joe

...

Hi Joe,

On 22 May 2007, at 10:10, Joe Bauman wrote:

...

At Vernon, not too far from that location, I thought I was having trouble with legs of the tripod settling deeper.

So you were out by Vernon last weekend? Did you happen to run into anyone else from SLAS? I understand a new subscriber to this list (Mark Hanning-Lee) that lives at Dugway was planning on being out that way.

As for the soft ground situation, my standard solution for years now has been nothing fancier that round pieces of thick plywood I cut out with a hole saw. They are 15 cm in diameter and have always worked for me even on damp soil and even loose sand.

pw

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