We would love to see this on a trailer.
1) Would like to make it modular / transportable, as I plan to have it temporarily reside on a friend’s land. Considering screws vs bolts to hold the walls and roof together.
Any attachment hardware would work. For our NEAF demo unit in 2023 we used carriage bolts for the walls and assembled the 4 walls and roof in about an hour. We built a few of these for friends and used outdoor rated construction screws for permanent installs.
2) Would like to use a tripod instead of a pier for the same reason, so I’m looking for inexpensive/temporary/stable floor ideas. Holes cut in wood decking for legs, perhaps?
We have only installed this onto a concrete pad with no additional flooring surface. But if I were to make it portable I would look for a trailer with a sturdy frame. A cheapo harbor freight trailer would be too flexible for an imaging rig. If can source a sturdy trailer, I put four heavy duty crank jacks on each corner. Ones with solid plates as a landing not the roller wheels. Through some 12” paver bricks under each corner and level the whole observatory.
3) Struggling on how to construct the roof. Considering corrugated metal. How best to construct / align / build? Roof first? Walls first?
Go light weight on the roof. We built one at a friends house and he was on a budget and wanted to use asphalt shingles. They work but added a lot of weight. You can add some OSB sheeting and aluminum corrugate for the outer walls and roofing. Though I will suggest LP Siding. Acts as the OSB does to stiffen rach surface but adds a concrete like weatherproof exterior that needs no paint. Use screws or a pneumatic framing nailer for those LP panels to ease the build. Build each wall on a flat surface, concrete driveway for example then simple lift them in place and bolt/scree together. Build the roof the same way.
