Trouble With The Bottom Rail

by Tanya
(Steinbach,MB Canada)

We purchased a Summerfield 24ftx52", we set up bottom rail and it only measured 22.5ft round and then when we tried putting up the wall and it overlapped about 2.5ft.

Did we do something wrong or did they send us the wrong rail?



Hi Tanya. The problem with your rails might be something you did or you may just have the wrong parts.

Bottom rail footplates usually have particular way the rails are supposed to be inserted. Very few footplates allow the rails to go all the way in and touch in the center of the plate. Most of them have stop tabs keeping a distance of an inch or more between rails. If your rails were meant to have a space, but you butted them up instead, then the mistake is probably yours.

Footplates with stop tabs usually add in one more factor, that being a bottom rail gap. You go into the stop tab and then back the rail out by maybe a quarter inch or less. This process changes from pool to pool and is strictly trial and ere. Once you learn a particular pool gap it usually stays the same for every pool of that size, by that particular manufacturer.



The bottom rail gap alone will not account for two and a half foot overlap. But butting all the rails together when they are supposed to be gapped just might.

You might try to see if your instruction manual gives the exact lengths the rails should be. Many of them do, if so, measure the rails, that should tell you if you are using the correct ones. You could also call the manufacturer and ask them for the correct measurement. There is no sense knocking your self out using the wrong parts, it's best to find out for sure.