Sunday afternoon, 30 August, I went to the POD to add a piggyback camera adapter to the LX200.  It took a while to determine exactly where it would work best as there were not enough screws on the rear of the 8" LX200 to mount it normally.  I finally noticed there was a small depression in the bottom of the adapter that would allow a screw head on the LX200 to protrude.  This provided some security to prevent the adapter from shifting with only one screw holding it.  The photo at the top and below show my Nikon D70 DSLR attached using the piggyback adapter:

This will provide short duration wide-angle (and telephoto) sky shots.  Most exposures will need to be 2-5 minutes maximum to avoid “field rotation” as the mount is currently Alt/Az.  I hope to add a wedge for the LX200 at some point to provide equatorial mounting.

While I was in the POD, I was leaning into one of the bays to get something.  When I straightened back up I hit my head on one of the primary dome brackets!  Ouch!  I think that adding some of the extra foam insulation strips I have along the edges of the brackets will be a good idea!

Sunday evening.  Monsoon thunderstorm.  I ran out to the POD during the rain to check for leaks.  I found the source of the leaks by the pivots (I hope).  There were gaps in the two pieces of foam where they should touch.  Even where they did touch and seemed tightly compressed, there was water coming through.  I'll address this when things dry out. Here are a couple of cell phone photos showing the gap (narrow vertical light) at each pivot:

As I left the POD, there was a nice rainbow to the east spanning an arc of nearly 180° (it was almost sunset).  And then the electricity went out (house and POD).  Somewhat later (after the electricity came on), we had even more rain.  I ran out to the POD again to check on things and discovered that the left primary dome metal plate was channeling water to the inside edge of the dome, and hence dropping water inside the POD.  I had sealed the right plate a few days ago but somehow rain water is getting to these plates.  I'll seal the left plate as well.  While I was inside the POD this time the winds got rather strong.  We were under a weather alert for winds to 50 MPH, but I don't think it was that strong.  There was noticeable air movement inside the POD; the wind comes in under the dome.

Here's another trip down memory lane.  When I was an undergraduate student at Indiana University working on my BS in Astrophysics, I would use the Astronomy Department 12" refractor for some observing.  I remember there being leaks inside the observatory dome when it would rain hard.  And during the winter, I would have to chip large chunks of ice off the inside of the dome in order to rotate it.  I wonder if I'll have the same problem this winter here in Arizona!

Monday, 31 August.  I sealed the left metal plate.  I also added some padding (foam insulation) to the three primary dome brackets.

In looking at the gaps at the pivot joints, or rather TRYING to look at the gaps, I found out that the gaps in the foam I could see last night where not visible in the daytime.  Last night, about sunset, it was easy to see light coming through from the outside while I was inside the POD where it was dark.  During the day, it was too bright inside the POD to see any light coming through.  TIP for other POD owners: check for "light leaks" about sunset with the dome closed.  These may indicate sources of water leaks when it is raining.  Since I couldn't see the gaps, I did some further investigation into why water was coming in through in the pivot joint area and how it could be mitigated.  I decided to add some extra rubber L-gasket strips along the outside.  Here are before and after photos:

Hopefully, this will direct water flow away from the joints.