Last year, our stock tank pool started to rust. Early in the season it wasn’t too bad, but by mid-summer it was unusable. We (I) decided to try to paint the inside. We used vinylester gel coat with the hope that it would stick to the galvanized steel. It didn’t. We turned the pool over this spring and found the gelcoat peeling off. Susanna did what we should have done last year. She looked on the internet and found a solution – get a pool liner. In hindsight, that was a way better plan than the gelcoat. We ordered a pool liner a few weeks ago and installed it today.
It took some time to make sure we got the wrinkles out of the liner as the pool filled up, but it is a significant improvement over the gelcoat and rusty steel. Maybe next year we will add some insulation under the outside of the pool liner and try to extend the season.
As the pool filled, I took time to reorganize the pool heater. The heater is just a black hose that uses the pressure of the pool pump to circulate water. Over the past few years we just curled the hose up on the lawn. It was a pain to mow, and probably less efficient gaining heat. I ran the hose to the back fence and ran straight sections of the hose back and forth along the fence where it should be in the sunlight most of the day. I did lose probably 20% of the hose length as I cut it into usable pieces. I may add another 50 feet of black hose later this year if we want to extend the season later into the fall, but I’ll see how well this works first.
