CB,
I inherited the pool in 97 when I bought the house and had a pool company come in and redoo everything...plumbing, equipment, liner. Was all shot and I knew nothing about pools then. They hard plumbed everything together which is the cheapest and quickest way but you can't take anything apart without cutting pipe. Later I redid the above ground plumbing myself and added the hoses. The auto radiator hoses are relatively soft and I don't have leaking problems. On one pressure line I do have two clamps though. It turns out 1-7/8 radiator hose is a good fit for 1-1/2 PVC pipe. The hose does tend to stick to the pipe and doesn't want to crack loose easily but a thin screwdriver pushed in to break the seal a little and then a pair of channel-locks on the hose will break it loose if you can't do it by hand. Makes it easy to remove the valve assembly for the Winter.
Al