Derek's comment about splitting the lower panels was a good one, and I have added that to the proposal to the customer.
Setting is essentially a hotel
ballroom, they have one entertainment manager (a suit carrying a screwdriver) on staff, rest of the work is either outside vendors or random
catering/maintenance staff, so things need to be fairly bullet-proof. The
curtains will close off the two corners of the room on the
stage end at 45 degree angles to create 'backstage' storage, and to black out the architecture behind two permanent
i-mag screens. The tracks have to curve to get behind a
dead-hung curtain upstage for storage, and will both go straight to meet the sidewall at an angle on the offstage ends, or
switch and curve to
duck behind the standard front main
speaker locations, meeting the side walls square for that option. Both sides will run about 45' overall, and door location is variable.
The use of a
switch in the project already pretty much precludes the dual
track idea, even if money for double
track was available.
ADC Rig-i-flex switches are pricey but doable, but unfortunately Patriarc switches list for just under $2,300 each (I called my rep at the factory, and no, that's not a misprint)! Thankfully, we won't be needing the load capacity of the Patriarc
track on this project. Although I agree that the dual
track would yield the cleanest look, I don't think that's a direction the project can head. As for using additional switches to swap
goods around, there just isn't room for anything like that, it's all in view.
I was hoping someone knew of a magic fastener that would be fast, easy, and as flexible as plain fabric (zip-lockbag seals for fabric?), but it sounds like
velcro is going to be the first option to try.
Thanks for chiming in.