I had no issues with the straps they were plenty long for me. I did have to trim my solar cover and that took some time. Basically it is was it is. It's installed and working it is a lot better than putting in on the lawn each time.
Bump! Would love to see some more pictures! Want to get one for our pool and thinking of just putting some 4x4 posts on the sides of the pool to mount it rather then drill into my pool..
Did you find a answer to your problem? I'm having the same problem. I'm thinking of attaching some kind of small floating object to the ends of each half to help start the split. Something like a few inches of a pool noodle. I'll let you know how it went.Gravel7, How do you get your cover to unroll without sticking together? When mine starts to unroll one side starts going under the other one.