Thank you for the responses.

In the grand scheme of things 300 bucks for a new one with all the gear is not horrible... however I purchased it with the intent to use it at least 3 seasons as I've heard other owners claim to do without a problem.

I made some mistakes last year and ended up with many 1/2 inch holes all over the liner and ended up just buying a whole new pool set this past year. Hoping not to have the same results this time round.

I believe my mistakes were:
  • Put it away myself
  • When drying, hung pool over fence
  • Folded up as smoothly as I could but nothing like it was when brand new
  • Stored in garage (un-heated) which may have helped make vinyl more brittle which turned small creases into small holes in liner

The pool is almost drained completely, took 3 days, going to clean inside/out with fresh water, pump out remaining water and let pool sit empty till it's dry as possible. Then will carefully fold where pool sits now and then put right back into the box it was bought in. Down in the basement it goes till next season.