Hi Pam, glad to hear you ready to do this thing. For the best price and good service I would check with In the Swim. Go with the 25 gauge, well worth the extra cost.

I seldom recommend beaded liners unless a deck is involved. Since you have a deck it may work best for you. You will have to order bead receivers in order to use a beaded liner. You will also have to take the top rails off one time in order to install the receivers.

You need to measure the pool carefully, width, length and height. When you are installing the beaded liner, take your time and align carefully. Oval pools need the liner to be in perfect alignment. Find the bottom seams, either side to side or end to end. Use your uprights as guides and align the liner perfectly. Once done, insert the bead into the receiver and smooth the bottom. Start adding water as you are finishing the smoothing.

Here is where I make my big decision. If the walls are the correct size and will stretch nicely into place without wrinkles I just let the water fill. Some folks hook up a vacuum to the return opening at this point to help smooth the walls. If the walls
are baggy with way to much liner left over I use the liner like an overlap. You will need to remove the top rails again, pull the liner over the wall, use coping over the liner and the bead receivers over the coping.

Best of luck, Dennis