Hi Eric,
Sorry I didn't get back sooner but it has been busy here the last couple days compliments of Irene. Right now I'm on generator and with all the outages around here I may be out for a while. I got it easy compared to most on the east coast.
I also don't cover. Used to with a Looplock but with the constant snow, melting, refreezing etc I would wind up with a cover frozen in a big block of ice with the springs stretched so I don't bother anymore. I keep the equipment going as long as possible and open as early as possible. Don't use polyquat or anything except a good shot of chlorine and raise the pH up with borax. By the time I winterize all the leaves are down. If I procrastinate in the spring I do go a little green but that's easy to remedy. I also don't drain below the skimmer bottom and have a pretty tricky setup with a couple small pumps on the shallow end floor so I can actually drain some with the block of ice present and do no damage. I plug the returns with non-protruding caps so nothing sticks out for the ice block to grab and damage and one of the small pumps melts the ice around the steps so I don;t crush them. Usually don't have to drain though. As for filling in the spring I have a small stream that works well....free water.
That's about all I do.
Any more questions just ask.
Al