The Ongoing Journey with the Above Ground Pool

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By: Jamie Collins

This summer, there’s more than just one captivating story unfolding, and while the headlines may focus on celebrity dramas, my family’s antics with our above ground pool are truly a saga of their own. Sure, Britney Spears has her battles, but for us regular folks, the real challenge is navigating summer with our kids. The pandemic may not be over, but this summer brings a renewed sense of safety, and we’re all trying to rediscover what normalcy looks like. My children are back at day camp after a summer spent at home last year, and the above ground pool I bought as a pandemic distraction has made its triumphant return.

For those who missed the original tale, allow me to summarize: I invested in a 10-foot Summer Waves pool, which promised easy assembly and a small pump. What I got instead was a three-day setup saga, hefty expenses for leveling the ground, a broken pump motor, a failed chemical workaround that only clouded the water, weeks of customer service back-and-forth, and endless searches for filters. I’m pretty sure Amazon is still claiming my delivery will arrive by Labor Day 2024.

Thanks to many of you wonderful readers and your helpful comments, I’ve learned that a pool net and a splash of bleach work wonders for keeping the water clean. By the end of last summer, I was a proficient pool caretaker. Although my kids preferred the public pool with its limited hours and masks, they appreciated (or at least were entertained by) my efforts. We all agreed this year would be smoother now that I had overcome the initial challenges.

And for a while, it was… until some storms rolled in. After setting up the pool like a pro just weeks ago—yes, I used old towels to ensure one side was level—the kids were enjoying every splash. But after a night of heavy rain, I awoke to find that the air tube had deflated and quite a bit of water had escaped. My pride took a hit, but I reassured myself that it was just the weather’s doing. I reinflated the tube and refilled the pool, only to repeat this process an hour later.

Determined to find the source of the leak, I searched high and low but found no holes. I tried the soapy water trick to locate any tiny pinpricks, but to no avail. In an ideal world, I would have caught a bubble in the act, but instead, I resorted to using a waterproof sealer on the seams. The deflation continued, and my attempts to fix it were making a sticky mess everywhere.

While desperately seeking solutions, I turned to YouTube for guidance. The search was akin to scrolling through an adult site—full of promise but often frustrating and confusing. However, I found others who faced similar struggles with their second-year above ground pools. Many suggested using pool noodles for support instead of relying solely on the air tube. One inventive soul even used milk jugs, but that seemed too labor-intensive.

After spending $86 on 15 pool noodles, waterproof tape, and a random lawn toy my kids insisted on, I decided to give it a go. Following YouTube’s simplified instructions, I cut slits in the innertube and stuffed in the noodles to create a new buoyant support. In my enthusiasm, I forgot to rinse off the soapy water from my earlier leak-finding mission, leading to a slippery situation that nearly had me tumbling into the pool.

After a solid hour of work, I managed to restore the pool to its former glory. However, another issue arose when a section of the innertube detached from the pool, threatening to sag again. Committed to making this work, I grabbed some garden stakes, more noodles, tape, and rope.

So far, this makeshift solution is holding up. I would like to say that mentioning this won’t jinx it, but let’s be honest, this pool has been a source of luck and trouble since the start. My goal now is to keep it functional until summer’s end. If it survives to see a third season, I might just buy a lottery ticket, as it seems my luck is holding on as tightly as the tape I spent $25 on.