You are right. That huge piece of vinyl is hard to handle, but it makes a big difference in the water temperature. Not so much from heat gained by its use, but from heat that is not lost at night when the cover is on the pool. If you combine it with solar panels, it will really make a difference. I also have a 27ft AG and I use the solar panels and the solar cover both and when I was in my pool a few days ago, the water temp was 86 degrees. We have had cool weather the past couple of days so I'm sure I've lost a couple of degrees but without it, I would have lost a lot of heat.

You may want to read a thread I started a few weeks back about my pool. Until your registration is complete, you'll have to log out to be able to see the other parts of the forum. So, copy the following link, log out and then paste the link into your URL line of your browser. There is info there about ways to manage a solar cover and also some pictures of my deck of my old pool. ( I see that you have another question in a different thread about decks.) The picture of my deck is a few years old and I have recently had a new deck put on but just haven't yet put any new pics. I keep meaning to do that, but can't find time away from answering so many posts to do so!

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...Pool-Adventure

Hope this helps. Welcome to the Pool Forum!