I guess I will have to eat the words I spewed in the beginning of this thread. Two weeks ago I installed solar heating panels. After a few days I dumped my cumbersome solar cover back on the pool. I have quickly learned that the solar cover in conjunction with the heating panels is putting my temps up in the 90s. The best I could get before the solar cover with the panels was the low to mid 80s. I was hitting the high 70s with nothing heating the pool. I have a 7 to 8 drop with out the cover.
I did find a way to make getting the solar cover on and off less painful. I took a 10 ft section of 3 inch of pvc pipe glued 3 to 2 inch reducers on each end and added about 3 foot of 2 inch pvc on each end of the 3 inch. Capped the 2 inch pipe and rolled the cover up. If I get in the pool I can roll the cover up set it across the back if the pool in just a 3 or 4 minutes. The whole pipe assembly is about 16 foot long and floats very well. I can put the cover on and off from the out side but it takes 2 people then.
So solar covers do work but you need a external heat source to make the most of them.
Steve