Above or Partially Above Ground Rectangular Lap Pool?

[HighWall]

My wife loves to swim laps for exercise. We are trying to figure out the best way to arrange that. She would be just as happy with a Doughboy with a deck around it, but I find them kinda unattractive. I like the more clean lines of an elongated rectangle. She and our contractor think a 12x26 rectangle would work in our space, but I haven't been able to find any offerings in our area. The closest thing is an Endless, but I think it's a little short.

I'm starting to think that an in-ground might be the only way to get what we want, but our budget is really stretched! We're in the middle of a new build in the Sierra foothills, so we do get freezing weather and a little (usually) snow. We also have expansive soil and a sloping site, which complicates in ground installations further.

All this is starting to give both of us apoplexy, which is why I was so happy to find this forum.

[CarlD]

I've merged these two threads because they are basically the same topic. Please respond here rather than starting multiple threads.

I have no idea how you can swim laps in a 26' long pool. I've tried swimming laps in a 33' long oval and found it didn't work. IMHO, 40' is the minimum length for a lap pool, unless you get one with a current you swim against. I believe Splash brand pools makes an 8'x40' long above ground lap pool. FantaSea used to make a 12'x40' lap pool, but they don't sell pools anymore, just parts.

[HighWall]

Thanks for the response. I wasn't sure my first posting "took" as the registration procedure was a little confusing for me.

What I really wanted was to review existing threads and view photos. I was attempting to fulfill the required first posting introduction.

Basically, it's my wife that's the swimmer, but she turned pool research over to me. My only real prior experience was with an above ground pool at one of my parent's houses over 40 years ago. It was ugly and difficult to remove as it was sitting on a 27' diameter reinforced concrete pad. This was before it was a simple thing to rent power hammers. My folks thought it would be a good project for my friend and me to take it out with a cold chisel and sledge hammer. Not the best memories of my misspent youth. That same summer we spent a bunch of time cutting railroad ties with hand saws and flinging them around.

I'll check out the companies mentioned. Thanks again. At this point, we are leaning toward an Endless fiberglass rectangular pools with the current generator, but we're still crunching numbers and considering our options.

Thanks again.

Rick

[BigDave]

I think an Endless Pool or some other swim current pool is the only way to swim in the space you have. In 26' you'd be unlikely to get a couple strokes before turning. I've tried to demonstrate stoke form to my kids in our 24' AG. It didn't work well because I was unable to show them connected strokes.