Nick,

In my heart of hearts I have to believe that resin won't last as long as steel...it's just affected by sun, rain, and temps too much to be as long a lasting material. Then there's you being a pool installer/repair person and having seen it all first hand.

This being the case, I have 2 questions for you. First, on a few of the steel pools, they advertise a resin top cap over the uprights. Are these top caps important to pool strenth, or are they just a cover to the uprights. If they're just a cover, then that wouldn't be so awful when they go bad. Secondly, do you have an opinion of extruded aluminum vs. steel? I'm going to have a ton of kids in this new pool we get, my husband being the biggest and rowdiest, and if there's a difference between alum. and steel for toughness, that just might help make my decision for me.

I guess I have a third question. After all this blah, blah, blah is the less expensive steel/aluminum pool with the 6" top rail just as good as the buttress free one with the 8" top rail? I had a rep tell me once that they all hold water the same 6", 8", buttress free, buttress. It would save me a little bit if $$ if they were all the same and all these choices are just marketing gimmics.

Thanks.