Post #433268 by Psycho Tiki D on Mon, Feb 9, 2009 5:58 AM

Thanks everyone for the props!

Decided to go with the exposed bamboo frame so I could maneuver the cloth easier.

Used 8 1/4" eye bolts to secure the frame to the ceiling. This was the hard sell to the wife having to drill 8 rather large holes in the ceiling to secure another 8 1/4" eye bolts into 140 lb each toggle wing nuts.

The framework hangs down about 5 inches. This provided enough "wiggle" room to adjust the tapa and not hang down too far.

Tapa is not as stiff as I thought it would be. In our initial attempts to even out the cloth we found it was sagging in some of the open areas without framing.
Still playing around with additional framing to make the cloth hang properly without having too much of the frame showing.

The actual frame is 10'x14' and we ended up folding about 1 foot on each side of the frame to make the tapa fit. The ceiling was not big enough expose the entire 12' width.

The tapa is currently being held on either end with 4 spring clamps. This is helping to stretch the tapa out so I can secure it with something else later.

I will post more pictures when I finish.

I am very happy with the progress thus far.

PTD