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I assume the plastice is UV stabilised??? Where did you get it?
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Jeff: I don't believe it is stabilized plastic. It was just a roll that I picked up at the local hardware store. Since the hoophouse is only used in the spring to start our plants in, and the plastic isn't stretched tight enough to stress it, the plastic lasts for several years.
The plastic in the photos was in its fourth rotation when the photos were taken. I started out using clips made from pices of the hoop material to hold the plastic on, but that doesn't work if you get much wind (clips up to 25 feet from their initial location), and the clips do work through the plastic before too long. The clip abrasions are the only damage marks on the plastic to date. If you run the plastic down past the sides of the bed, and the ends are sealed properly, the crossline method will hold up in at least 30 mph winds.
I'm going to try a raised open framework to attach the hoops to this summer, with the object of putting a canopy over the tomatoes. Might help reduce splits a bit. I did a quick and nasty version of the idea last year (the Pink Novicok, and unripe Goat Bag in my other album
http://picasaweb.google.com/TVgrunt/Tomatoes were grown under this first attempt). I know I have a couple of photos around someplace, if they didn't evaporate in the last computer crash (I know, backup everything, including your backups). If I can locate them, I'll add them to the hoophouse gallery.
Once you have the materials together, and cut to use, it only takes a couple of hours to set everything up. If you leave the hoops up at the end of the season (they don't get in the way of most garden crops) it takes about an hour to set up a hoop house.
Cheers
grunt