10.06.2020 Cloud and that leaking dome problem again.

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Wednesday 10th. The cloud became a serious nuisance with little to show for my time in the dome today. Which brought me to thinking of how I was going to overcome the rainwater leakage. Numerous options would reduce or stop the drips. Though I have no plans for fiber-glassing the outside. 

I re-checked the dome's dimensions and looked at white PVC tarpaulins online. I could fit a full drop of material to each gore and heat weld the overlaps. That should seal it for a few years. 

White would be cool. Green less visible but hotter. Affordable, with a reasonable workload and little pressure to complete in one day if it stays dry overnight. Choose your right moment. They even do a sage green in PVC tarpaulin. I could send for a sample to see if the website image matches reality.

Or I could buy a ready-made GRP dome kit and assemble it myself on the existing building. White would be cool but green much less visible. Do I want another green dome? My wife certainly would prefer it. I thought it was okay in white primer paint.

So, yet again our hero set up a ladder inside the dome and dragged a huge, white, lightweight tarpaulin up to the zenith board. Where it was cast out like a net to spread untidily across the dome below me. 

Yet again it looked awful in white from the house and garden. I retreated to the end of the drive and it screamed: "Look at me! I am WHITE!" In the present green it is almost invisible from any angle.

Then I cycled to the road and stared at the distant white carbuncle almost hidden by hedges at 150-175 yards away. It won't be a problem of high visibility from the road for very much longer. Not the way the intervening hedges keep growing. 

The white material hasn't lowered the temperature in the dome. It feels much cooler but the air temperature has reached 70F. To a lower 63F in the shade behind the dome. Owners of the white plastic domes say their temperature differentials are very much lower than mine. Am I handicapping my solar imaging because of this?  

Then there's aluminium. It has the advantage of reflecting its surroundings. Sky or the overhanging trees. It would blend in. 

I could drop complete gores of aluminium over the existing dome structure. They'd need bends at each vertical angle between panels. Have flaps like a cardboard model and pop rivet them together. A bit of sealer inside the inevitable corners. 

Then who needs the plywood panels if aluminium provides a stressed skin? Who needs mouldy and damp plywood ribs and heavy cross struts if I have an aluminium skin? Do I sense an aluminium, trapezoidal dome in my stars? It's certainly doable with no need for fancy tools. Build it on the ground and lift pairs of finished gores into place upstairs on the base ring.

 

The ribs could be T-profile aluminium. Flat top section outwards for the panels to rest against. Drill and pop rivet. The upright of the 'T' would be notched at the angles. Not exactly cheap. Say a few hundred pounds equivalent in materials?  A damned sight cheaper than a new 'plastic' dome! 

The slit and shutters would be the most difficult part but still doable. I have the present dome as a guide. 

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