I think this thread has become derailed a bit. Mods, feel free to split off the conversations about AB versus traditional plaster. Perhaps start with Post #32 and move it all to The Deep End.
Here's how I look at it -
Would I do plaster surface all over again if my choice was plaster/vinyl/fiberglass? YES! Plaster is, in my opinion, the more versatile surface for creating the pool that you want.
Is plaster bullet-proof? NO. It takes just as much care, if not more, to keep it looking beautiful and it is NOT chemically inert with respect to pool water.
Can a plaster surface last in excess of 15 years? Sure, but it will not look the same as it did on Day 1 and, in that respect, "your mileage may vary" as the longevity depends a lot on the care of the pool owner as well as the skills of the plaster applicator. If either pool owner neglect OR poor workmanship is present, you can expect to be replastering a lot sooner than 15 years OR you'll have to develop a high tolerance for a crappy looking pool.
AquaBright has HUGE potential. It combines the structural integrity and design freedom of plaster with a chemically inert surface similar to vinyl pools. It is a marriage of the best of both of those pool surfaces. Barring any significant structural failures of the underlying plaster, AquaBright can be easily repaired and patched with almost seemless perfection (depending on how skilled the guy with the blowtorch is).
I would compare the state of AquaBright today, to SWG's 15 years ago. When SWG's first came out on the US market (they were available in Australia many years earlier), they were widely panned as being too expensive and unnecessary. No one thought they would last because it required a more complicated installation process and few people were skilled at using them or knowing how to diagnose them. They also failed at spectacularly high rates. Fast forward 15 years and the state of the SWG market is quite healthy with nearly a dozen different competing vendors, long warranty programs and very competitive pricing. People who bought into SWGs initially paid a lot of money for what people thought was a silly toy at best. But that initial interest and money is what has led to a much better product nowadays and I know of very, very few people who would EVER switch back to manual chlorination after running their pools with SWGs. Does that mean everyone should run out and get one? No, but the economics can be easily justified for just about any pool type if the pool owner can afford the upfront expense.
AquaBright can follow the same trajectory because, honestly speaking, there is nothing really unique about it. The idea and technology of thermal-spray coatings has been around for decades (when I went to college many, many, many, many years ago...ok, decades ago, many of my mechanical engineering buddies worked as interns in my school's Thermal Spray laboratory studying the use of recycled polymer spraying). There nothing about the process that is patentable to the point of excluding competition (you could probably patent a new flamethrower gun, but not the process itself). So all it will take is a little bit of interest on the part of the pool building community and little bit of innovation and "creative destruction" in the business world, and I have no doubt in another 10-15 years, no one will want to own a plaster pool without an AB coating on it.
