quick leveling question...

[badutahboy]

One more question.. I had an excavator come look at the job, because it'll only cost me about $50 more to pay someone to do it than it would for me to go rent a plate compactor...

He said my soil is very loamy, and might not compact well... he suggested bringing in sand to level and compact... However, I'm worried that sand will wash out too easily, particularly if it's under the frame of the pool, causing problems down the road...

Am I right?

Our other alternatives are to bring in road base or something similar to compact for a base, or to scrape down 5-6" to hard packed soil.

Which is my best bet?

[matt4x4]

I would recommend using crusher run/screenings - about 4" of it, so if you have your loam taken down an extra 3-4" (if final top rail height is important to you, otherwise just build on top of the loam) and bring in enough screenings to create a 3-4' wide circle under your walls. It compacts to a hard base using water and a plate compactor and can be levelled precisely.
Then use 3-4" of sand inside the pool for your base under the liner - I sloped mine to gain about 8" of extra depth in the center because my pool and liner was big enough to accomodate that.