Solar cover installation question

[prh129]

For a 24' round AG pool, I'm installing a solar cover outside the pool on one end. Rolling the cover up will be easy to do, but I'm thinking about how do I unroll the cover easily without having to get into the pool? My only thought so far is to have a rope tied to the free end of the cover that would reach across the pool then as I unroll the cover a little, I could pull the cover across the pool to take up the slack then unroll some more, then pull etc.

I wouldn't think I would want to just pull on the rope to unroll the cover as that would put a lot of stress on the cover where the rope is fastened and it would rip before too long. Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks

Peter

[JohnT]

I wouldn't think I would want to just pull on the rope to unroll the cover as that would put a lot of stress on the cover where the rope is fastened and it would rip before too long. Is there a better way to do it?

Thanks

Peter

They make strap kits for unrolling them. They use plastic grommets similar to what is used to attach the cover to the reel straps. You just pull on the strap and unroll it.

[matt4x4]

When I mounted mine to teh reel, I used the leftover strap and a leftover grommet to do exactly that - 2 yrs - hasn't even stretched.
However, I don't use to much, most times I'm in the pool when I zip it up for the night.

[prh129]

Great. Thanks for the reply John.

[prh129]

I looked around quickly and found one center pull rope that looks like two plastic clothspins and a length of rope for 13.00!

Anyway, my reel came with 5 straps that seem about 2' or 3' long. Since the reel is outside the pool, the length is probably going to be longer than this as I move away from the center of the reel so I would consider buying another strap kit. I notice that the above-ground kits come with cords and the in-ground kits come with straps that seem to be longer than the cords. The straps look more robust to me - is there any reason not to use an in-ground strap kit for an AG application? (I will then have extra straps to use for a center pull).

Thanks

Peter

[matt4x4]

I bought the feherguard kits, black plastic grommets and blue webbing - If I remember correctly the webbing was a 50 foot roll.

[prh129]

Thanks Matt - the 50' roll of webbing is FG-RS50 and a 10 pack of fasteners is FG-PFS. That should do me.