Introduction: Pool Cover Float

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About: I live with my wife and children in Fort Worth, TX. We enjoy day-trips and junk stores. I'm a firm believer that homemade food tastes better and I love to try new recipes. When I can, I like to head out to the…

Has this ever happened to you?

Your pool cover slips in the water and end up on the bottom of the pool? Then you have to drag it out, get help to put it back on, then do it all over again when the dang thing slips in again!

But what choice do you have? You need to keep that pool covered to keep it clean. Leave it uncovered? Let in leaves, bugs, pollen, or unwanted neighbors?

Not on my watch, mister!

As always, thanks for reading.

Step 1: Design and Materials

The simplest solution, I thought, was simply leaving a few pool floats in the water, but that had its drawbacks.

1. They obviously floated away.....

2. See # 1.

Instead, I opted to use some PVC pipe and a few pool floats who valiantly gave their lives for this project. Fear not though, for they shall live on in an even greater way.


*FYI, in case you are wondering why the belt rope around the outside isn't stopping the cover from slipping in, it because the rope just doesn't stay tight enough to overcome the weight of the water coming through the factory vent holes in the cover.

Step 2: Build

I cut the floats into 4 even pieces. I then cut some 1/2" PVC lengths to match the float size. In this case, about 24".

Using a 4 way PVC fitting, I put it together into a large X. It was unnecessary to glue the fitting together, but if it makes you feel better, by all means do it.

Before I slipped the floats on, I drilled a hole in one end and attached a piece of 550 cord. This will allow me to reel the float in when I don't need it and also partially prevent it from floating away when I put the cover on (more on this later).

Then, of course, I put the floats on.

Step 3: Using the Float and Final Thoughts

After placing it in the pool, we put the cover back on. Eureka! We have a non-sinking pool cover.

It works pretty well. The cover has not sunk yet and the float seems to stay in place from the weight of the cover. Now the pool will stay cleaner, because the cover stays in place!

The only thing I would change at this point it to add a second piece of rope to the other end of the X so I can secure the float on both ends, thus preventing the float from moving while putting the cover on.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.

Thanks for reading my Instructable!