Tarp Pool
Mike is never one to settle for what is available. He doesn’t like buying things that aren’t what he has in mind. Add in the fact he’s got a tightwad wife and that is the recipe for innovation. Summertime is hot and we’ve got a 5 kids, which means there is a range of ages to appease. Here is what is readily available on the market:
Kiddy pools. These tend to be the right depth for their intended audience. Also they are don’t offer much space. They either have to be blown up or are impressively awkward and annoying to store. Fun fact, I use to climb under our deck when I was a kid and pretend that the old kiddy pool that was filled up with nasty old water was a witches brew and pretend I was a witch. I have no idea where my fear of spiders was at that point in my life.
Bigger Blow up pools. More space but still not great. Also because it’s bigger, more blowing up. Also, with the higher sides, if you want it shallower for younger kids, it’s hard to see what’s going on unless you are right there looking in.
Obviously there are bigger, more permanent options but those are pricey and, well, permanent. We don’t have that kind of yard space and like I mentioned, we have a wide range of ages. Pools are scary for toddler parents. Plus they are expensive to put in and care for.
This was Mike’s solution a couple years back.
It met all our needs.
Space. The footprint for this pool is however big of a tarp you want to get. Five kids sometimes need space from one another. check.
Depth. It can be as deep as you want to make the PVC long. We like to leave it fairly shallow as we’ve got kids from 1 to 11 playing in there.
Storage. It takes up the space of a folded up tarp and cut up PVC pipe.
Clean up. Pull up a couple of the PVC pipes holding the sides and strategically aim the outflow of water to the struggling parts of your yard. Or as my kids do, send some boats sailing across the yard. Drains quickly without a lot of oversight.
It’s pretty simple design, the trick was to get the tarp to connect to the PVC, so he make some clips to stick through the grommets of the tarp to do this. I named them Total eClips of the Tarp. You’re welcome.
***Make your version of this at your own risk. Please take into consideration appropriate safety considerations for your situation. For example, because kids are kids, a pool noodle sliced down one side and placed long ways over the PVC ends (not pictured but highly recommended) would be a good addition to discourage injury. Also rough housing and running is always frowned upon when playing in a pool. This is not a rigourously safety tested product. Please use common sense.***
