Post #466859 by Swanky on Sat, Jul 4, 2009 12:32 PM

July 3rd: Adding a thatch "hut" over the bar area.
Tiki 65 came over and we whipped this into shape in a few hours.

I had a 9 foot thatch umbrella cover and a 6 foot area to cover. Had a bunch of stained bamboo poles we got at Pier 1 cheap.

Started by cutting 1/4 of the thatch umbrella and attaching it to the 2 poles to make 90 degrees. Then took the remaining 3/4 of the thatch and added if overlapping the first piece. It is near invisible where they meet. Tied it to the poles and the thatch together with jute.

Took 3 more poles and tied them together for the inner ribs.

Chris attached the hub of the umbrella to a hook in the corner with wires run through the poles.

Each end of the pole is connected to the ceiling by way of black galvanized wire and eye hooks. We put the holes a bit back from the end to make them more hidden.

We attached the central poles to the corner hub and then began wiring them up to get the structure.

Very floppy looking.

Once cross supports are added inside, it looks more right. Still needs trimmed and "finished. May overlap extar thatch on the end to make it thicker where it hangs off.

Here is the underside. Those pieces of bamboo will be replaced with more of the stained and everything cut to fit and tied in place with jute. But there is still more to do above the thatch to wire in lamps, etc. so we are waiting.

Just a few hours to kill on a vacation night. Making some progress. Hope to have to all open in September for a party.