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No point in taking any chance with the blocks lifting out of the ground during severe wind storms. [However unlikely.] So I wanted the whole pad to be well oversized for the increased footprint.
I'll lose the present path around the building but never really used it. Not once the grooved, plywood cladding was screwed into place. Which is easily managed from a ladder planted outside the gravel pad.
I have decided to build the dome transporter trolley out of 2x4s on edge. I shall need the ladders for the building work. So don't want to have to buy new to replace them. The ladders would also be far more bulky inside the dome. When I want to be moving about freely in there. Without tripping, nor banging my shins on the supporting cradle/trolley.
Triangulation can be achieved out at the corners of the frame. Either with struts or plywood sheet. Leaving the space inside largely unencumbered. The natural curve of the dome will ensure that I do not need to be standing out near the edges. The triangulation struts [or ply] could be placed to increase the supported area of the ground flange at the dome's rim.
The wheels and their jacks could be placed inside the dome's perimeter. To better protect them from the winter weather. I found these budget jacks stiffened up when fully exposed over time without regular adjustment. The critical screw threads, just under the crank handle, could be protected by a small, inverted bucket but do look rather "untidy." The crank handle is too bulk for a smaller cover. While the jack collapses inwards without the handle.
I now have four sets of the double, trailer jockey wheels, jacks and Q/R clamps. Claimed 500kg load capacity each. They also claim the double wheels do not dig holes when moved about on soft ground. As happens all too easily with single jockey wheels rotating on the spot. I made sure to buy wheels with solid tyres. Pneumatic tyres are a real pain despite their lower rolling resistance.
I also bought 6x 3m lengths of 50x100mm [2x4"] timber for constructing the trolley. There is a slight complication in that the dome is shorter in line with the segments. This because of the open doorway. Holm and Laue list it as 3.9m long. With the whole dome at 4.4m wide. I had better ensure I can support a narrow crescent of the correct [shorter] length of loose segments. A longer frame might let the ends of the segments drop right through the trolley.
I still haven't a clue how the dome will be delivered. Nor even how to load the trolley. Would they rely on the driver to manhandle nearly 500lbs in the absence of a tractor or fork lift to unload the lorry? That would surely be rather amateurish and well outside of normal working and safety conditions. This is not something I want to discover on the side of a main road. With racing traffic right on a blind corner!
The remains of the latest, trailer load of gravel has been dumped in a neat pile near the building. To free the trailer for more errands.
The early evening stayed clear for a brief moment before rain spattered the windows. Saturn and Jupiter were towing the bright, crescent moon. Like a kite, across the southern sky. Warmer and dimmer Saturn and brighter Jupiter below, were just clearing the distant trees.
My first and probably last sighting of the pair. Tomorrow they are expected to be closer for the first time in 800 years but, of course, it will be cloudy. An American advertising agency, masquerading as a newspooper, called it "the view of a lifetime." Which might well have been true. If we all lived that long.
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