Large solar cover help

[tphaggerty]

I have a 20x40 IG. We got a large commercial reel because we wanted it to clear the diving board easily. It stands about 40" high and is ugly as sin. But it works very well. Although the cover does try to squirm when rolling, getting it OFF the pool is relatively easy. I can put it back on the pool by myself, but no one else can.

We paid about 1200 for our reel. Its expensive, but we can move the entire thing completely out of the way when swimming. Plus, we can store the cover on the reel over winter, something that is not recommended with the less stout reels.

[tenax]

while my pool is half the length, it's the same width..30 ft..in terms of putting it on, an easy and cheap solution i've used for 2 years now is a holeless grommit. basically a 2 piece tube that i locate about 2 inches into the end of the cover and then you slide one piece into the other to secure it. then i attach a thin nylon rope to it. i have 2 of these in place on my cover and it's easy for one person to pull the cover on by grabbing the 2 of these. 2 is quite sufficient to pull the cover on evenly. the ez grabbit is what i use (most hardware and camping stores should have. they are widely available...bought mine at the canadian tire store in canada) here's what they look like. they are cheap and work great and standup well to sun, etc. tough plastic:

[tenax]

here's a few pictures of them in use. sorry, mine are blue against a blue cover so not the best to see maybe..they come with a good nylon string and then i just added longer 1/4 inch or so strings to those..my strings are about 30 ft long each. i just throw them on the side deck of pool before i move my cover reel then walk them to the end and once i have the reel in place, just pull it out.3 minute operation to put the cover back on. for your pool size you may want to consider 3 or 4 of them. they come in 4 packs.

[RavenNS]

I have a 42.5' inground "lazy L" shape
so although it's 10' less then yours, I can certainly understand the "bulkyness" ( + heavy) factor, as I practically have to fold the blanket in half in order to make the turn.

just an FYI though, I'm a short woman and I'm able to roll and unroll the reel by myself.
not only that, but I can swim the blanket onto the pool. I have never needed straps ( although now that I see those, I might consider it )

I do like the suggestion of just getting two blankets. if I were in your shoes, thats what I'd do, get two blankets & two reels. That way you could get around the need for a commerical reel and I think even having the two, would be much less then the $1600 quoted.


Good Luck :-)

[tenax]

yeah, i swim it on occasionally, but there's times where' i'm not swimming myself and my kids are and leave the cover off and disappear..or i want to take it off for some reason and it's too bloody cold to get in, hence the ropes and grabbits

[CarlD]

That's a big cover!

I have a 16x40 and, with a good reel it's not too hard to roll up. I CAN cover it myself but it's far, far easier with two.

[srbaker]

Thank you all for your help. I sounds like the easier part is getting the cover off the reel and on the pool. The harder part sounds like getting the cover back on the reel straight. One of the covers I saw has 5 or 6 nylon straps that attach to the end of the cover the then the reel, naybe that helps getting the cover to start straight when starting to reel.

Rich