Way back in '84 when I got my coulter 13, The first thing I noticed was it wouldn't fit in my car when I had exhausted backyard observing. Being the brave (or foolish depending on the outcome), I wipped out the old sabre saw and cut it in half! Well, "low and behold", I still can't cut a straight line to save my life! When the start of the cut and the end of the cut didn't meet up, I cursed myself. Then the light went on! The jog was a perfect alignment thingie! I would just set the tube on approximatly and twist until the jogs contacted and it was aligned! I pop-rivited three plates on the inside of the lower tube to keep the tube parts concentric and used spring tensioned clasps to hold it together. They were heavy duty and I could pick up the light end without the heavy end flexing. The advantage of the spring clamps was I didn't need the accuracy of placement nor be concerned about things changing over time, the springs just took up the slack. It worked fine. The I went to a truss design some years later.
Go For It, Ken