deck roller for free form pool (kidney shaped)

[patplh]

Hi, I've been struggling for years with our solar cover and have read a few posts here and elsewhere that lead me to believe that some folks have been successful with using portable rollers on the freeform pools.

We are limited by a rock wall on the northern side, a diving rock on the deep end (west side) and a small flower bed on the south side. I've included a pic of the pool taken from the deep end and a satellite image. in the satellite photo, the brownish area above the pool is a mulch bed that is behind a rock wall, so we can't put a rod there. the brownish area in the middle of the kidney shape is a small flower bed that has about 1 ft tall day lilies in it. the gray square in the bottom left is a diving rock on the deep end.
I was thinking I could put the roller on the shallow end parallel to the fence and pull it across and then add a small piece in the area that is getting missed by the roller. (I included a pic that shows the general path of the roller in my plan) Am I crazy?
thanks for the input!
Patty

 

[patplh]

still struggling with what to do with our solar cover.. has anyone successfully rolled over a kidney shaped pool and then added a section afterwards to fill the gap? the red rectangle in the first pic shows what the roller would cover, i would need to either fold over an extra piece (which might make rolling a challenge) or separately put down a half-moon piece to cover the uncovered section.

 

[Pool Clown]

Have you thought about cutting the cover in half at the life line? You would still have to deal with the cover as you do currently, only now it would be 1/2 as cumbersome.

 

[patplh]

oh, i should have mentioned that for the past two years, we've used the solar roller shown here http://www.solarroller.com/. We started out with 2 rollers with each covering half of the kidney bean. Then we got a third so we could split the larger half of the pool (east side) into two pieces .. but the smaller half of the pool cover is still struggling, so they recommended splitting that, but then we'd have 4 rollers and that's just too cumbersome, i think... so i was thinking of getting a new cover and using a above ground roller.

 

[Pool Clown]

What you're using looks like the best way.

 

[patplh]

do you think using an above ground reel would be a disaster? our existing set up is not good - our cover is too heavy for the rollers (or something is wrong with our installation that we have yet to figure out despite great customer service from the company) so i am really looking for another solution.

 

[Pool Clown]

You just have no place to put a reel-end. Unless you got creative and drilled a hole into the retaining wall that could fit the pin of the reel. But then how do you move the reel with the cover on it off, and to a storage area? What ever you do, will probably require two people to accomplish.

 

[bk406]

Put the reel over the pool and attach the reel to the cover about 3 feet in instead of on the end. The reel strattles the pool rather than sit on the end. I'll try and remember to post up a picture of mine. I have a kidney shaped pool and use a reel and cover all in once piece.

 

[mas985]

This is what I did:

diy-solar-cover-roller-t59799.html

But you don't have to cover every sq-ft of pool surface. If you have most of it, that is good enough.

 

[patplh]

Mark, that's a beautiful set up.. how thick is your cover? i think that's been the issue with our solar roller.. ours is a 10mil and our pool is not that large, but the hole in the pole where you connect the cover to the pole keep ripping open..
wish i saw your diy before i invested so much in the solar roller..

This is what I did:

diy-solar-cover-roller-t59799.html

But you don't have to cover every sq-ft of pool surface. If you have most of it, that is good enough.

 

[patplh]

Put the reel over the pool and attach the reel to the cover about 3 feet in instead of on the end. The reel strattles the pool rather than sit on the end. I'll try and remember to post up a picture of mine. I have a kidney shaped pool and use a reel and cover all in once piece.

i would love to see a picture.. does the reel straddle the pool and you can take it off completely if you want? we have that rock wall, so I don't think we could straddle it, but i would love to see your set up and see if we can make it work.

thanks for responding!

 

[mas985]

Mark, that's a beautiful set up.. how thick is your cover?

Thanks! It is a 12 mil cover.

 

[patplh]

Mark, that's a beautiful set up.. how thick is your cover?

Thanks! It is a 12 mil cover.

i think mine is too.. any chance you might have a chance to upload a pic of the setup? thanks!!

 

[patplh]

Put the reel over the pool and attach the reel to the cover about 3 feet in instead of on the end. The reel strattles the pool rather than sit on the end. I'll try and remember to post up a picture of mine. I have a kidney shaped pool and use a reel and cover all in once piece.

Hi, was wondering if you might have a chance to post a picture of your set up.