raise center of winter cover?

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G

gtnos

Well-known member
Jun 9, 2013
549
Newcastle, Oklahoma
i realize we are a ways from this, but i was at my father in laws the other day and he was just starting to open his 26 x 52 intex. his winter cover was under water with a ton of debris on it he was removing. it made me wonder:

what about putting some type of prop rod or something in center of pool so that cover is conical in shape causing rain, snow, debris, etc to roll off to the sides instead of sagging down in the center of the cover?

does any company make such a thing? anyone on here make there own? i figured if you made one with a round smooth bottom that wouldnt damage liner, that was weighted so it wouldnt move from center, then drape cover over it, that would be much better than a flat cover pulled drum tight.
 
i figure anything that airs up will go flat after a month or so. what about making some bows out of schedule 40 PVC? i thought about doing that and having a 5 inch piece in the center that all the bows pass through for center support. the center piece would sit on the pool bottom. i would put those nice smooth round end caps on the centerpost so it wouldnt hurt the liner or bottom of pool cover. PVC is cheap and strong and would not have to be glued which means it would assemble / disassemble in minutes. i calculate for my pool, 9 10 foot pieces of 3/4 inch at 3 bucks each, plus 8 T fittings at .75 each, plus 12 bucks for a 5 inch x 5 ft pvc pipe. that would give me 8 bows that go from center to pool edge. the T fittings are for the end that connects to side of intex pool. i would cut some 1 foot runners out of each side of T fitting and slide those in the pocket of the liners near the rails to connect the bows. i would cut center piece to allow 8-10 inches of rise, enough for rain to runoff. not too worried about snowload here, we have fairly mild winters, however, im betting that it would hold 2-3 inches easily, with 8 bows supporting it.

this could be done for ~40-45 bucks and would last forever.

anyone ever done this? thoughts?
 
i will. and i will probably build it. here is my plan:

*** Disclaimer*** [I apologize for the crudeness of this model... i didnt have time to draw it to scale and paint it.... :lol: ]

[attachment=0:24r2sko8]pool cover bow plans.jpg[/attachment:24r2sko8]





anywho.... thoughts?
 

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I save all my empty bleach jugs and tie them together with light rope. Tie three together, and then tie several of these in a line. Raises the center of the cover quite nicely. You could go even higher if desired.

Why waste the resource? Jugs are airtight, and will collapse slightly with temperature change, and will allow for ice during the winter, and don't go flat.
 

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Charlie_R said:
I save all my empty bleach jugs and tie them together with light rope. Tie three together, and then tie several of these in a line. Raises the center of the cover quite nicely. You could go even higher if desired.

Why waste the resource? Jugs are airtight, and will collapse slightly with temperature change, and will allow for ice during the winter, and don't go flat.
Click to expand...
Good enough for http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Cvn9l1pJ ... vn9l1pJ3-A
 
thanks casey! thats pretty close to my idea. i didnt like how the 1/2 pvc seemed to deform though. 3/4 is stronger.... but im thinking now i might bump up the diameter of the bows to 1 inch after seeing how her frame overwintered. if 1 inch pipe will even flex at all for me to install, as 1 inch pvc pipe is pretty stout. i could still use 3/4 for the intex sleeves and use a 1 inch to 3/4 T fitting to attach. i like the idea of using the pool frame itself for the outer support rather than rebar, as the rebar will give, that frame, held by a liner 1/3 full of water, wont give much if any. plus, my idea is a "click lock" system that you simply click all pieces in place, toss your cover on, and go. dont want to have to hammer in rebar.

as for a tension system, i plan to turn to Mr. Gravity for that. I have been saving up my bleach jugs so that i can fill them with water, tie them to the cover, and let them dangle about 1 ft off the ground at every section. that should retain cover tension. ill then run a rope all the way around pool and tie it tight.

good thing i have all summer to think and plan this. have to go to home depot and look at some pipe and fittings and see how much things are and what will work. i just know i dont want the swamp mess that my father in law is dealing with right now, and I think a little better winter prep, and he would have avoided it.
 
We put our A-frame ladder in the center and draped winter cover over it. Tied water jugs to tarp and let them dangle, it provided extra tightness on the tarp. Worked pretty good. Had a few places that water laid, but sucked it out with a small pond pump. Sure beat the years before when we struggled with the cover sinking into the water.
 
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