Kayak Pool Question

[bbleak]

Hello,

I apologize in advance, but it seems like I cannot search the forums, and access a lot of stuff, until I post my first thread. So, I figured that I would start by asking my question.

My wife is jumping/pressuring the family into getting a pool ASAP since 1. she grew up with a big inground and 2. it has been so darn hot out 3. the kids enjoy it.

We looked at inground and they were just too expensive and then we started looking at on ground. She is just about dead set on the Kayak brand, but I have found a lot of bad info about them on the web, they do not honor their 30 year warrantee and their sales people actually LIE about it instead of stating it is prorated and that labor is not covered after the 1st year, and they seem to have a high rate of failure.

My questions are:

In reference to the Kayak brand..

1. Is it crazy to spend 20K on an above ground pool (16'x32'x5.5') when you can get a fiberglass one for about the same excluding fence costs? They originally refused to go lower than 23,500, but after researching this is robbery.
2. Are their waterwalls and liners as bad as some users portray? At $250 labor per incident, a pool refill, and the part (200-400) it seems like a sinking hole for cash.
3. Are there any gotcha's that I should know about? Are all of the problems related to installation as the company is stating?

In reference to other pools..

1. Are there any recommended above/on ground pools that have decking/fencing that are fair sized and have a good track record? I am not against spending money on a quality product that will potentially last many years. My biggest problem is that I do not have a fence around my yard so kayak is a perfect fit from that angle.

Thank you in advance!

[aylad]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!!

I will let Pooldoc or one of the others comment on your branding questions--I don't know anything about the Kayak brand, but just wanted to throw a caution out there...

Check with your insurance company to see what their requirements are about fencing around the pool, just to keep from having any issues later. Our insurance company refuses to insure the pool part of the homeowner's policy unless there is a minimum 6 foot fence around the pool, whether it's IG or AG. That's one of those things you need to find out before you have an incident and really need to know!!

[Speedo]

My neighbor has a kayak, I couldn't tell you much about it other than he told us he bought it in the early 2000s, so I believe it's at least 9-10 years old. A friend of a friend has a kayak and she got it for around $15k I believe. At a dealer outside of Chicago. I was quoted around 18k, down to 15k on a clearance model. I personally wouldn't want to spend much more than $12k at most.

Assuming you get a standard agp, lets say the kit costs around 3500, then you might spend another $1k on installation. Putting up a deck could set you back another $1500. Depending on the city ordinances if you need to put up a fence around it that would probably be another 1k-1500. This could take you up to 7500-8k. Still much cheaper than 12k, and way less than 20!

Keep in mind you can get an expandable liner and have a deep end created for your agp. Kayak isn't needed to get a deep end on your pool. Many people have gone with doughboy expandable liners and they even warranty their pools to be buried, I've seen many sunken 2'+.

Oh, I also noticed my neighbors kayak came with a small sand filter. Equipment would be another thing to check on w/ kayak.