Hi There,
My wife and I purchased our first hot tub last april and so far love the Radiance hot tub by Coast Spas. We live in Northern Ontario and get some pretty harsh days during winter. I have been having nothing but problems with my cover and am curious to know if anyone else with this hot tub is having similar problems.
First of all, for those who are not familiar with the Radiance model, it has a raised arch back with a very nice waterfall feature. Because of this arched back, some modifications had to be made to the cover to fit the hot tub. Instead of actually making a cover specifically for this hot tub, it seems to us that Coast simply modified there stadard cover but putting a longer skirt at the back and supplying these velcro on pads to account for the arch. Well this makes it very difficult to get the cover on the hot tub since these velcroed on pieces constantly snag the edge and get pulled off. I have to get under the cover and lift it with my head to clear the edge of the hot tub. This isn't too big of a deal, just a little inconvenient since my wife doesn't have the strength to do this so she has to walk around the back of the hot tub and lift the cover which is awkward with 4 feet of snow on the ground around the back.
My biggest concern is the amoung of heat loss and freezing I am getting around this cover because it doesn't seal properly around the hot tub. With our Radiance hot tub, we got the slate sides which includes a nice little 1" lip where the sides meet the shell. Because of this lip and the fact that the skirt of the cover falls below the lip, there is a large air gap all around my hot tub. Also because the skirt is below this lip, when it gets very cold which is every day, the skirt tends to shrink almost locking itself over this lip. I have to use excess force to get the cover off which is causing significant damage to the handles on the cover to the point that they are almost ripped off. Also, because of this shrinkage, the skirt of the cover is all cracked. Lastly, because of this arched back, the centre of the cover (fold point) is actually lower than the back and melted snow gathers there then freezes making it difficult to get the cover off. Also, because of this, the little pad between the two sections of the cover along the edge isn't sealed in properly so I can see a lot of steam escaping out.
I can't imaging I am the only one experiencing these problems and would like to hear what others have done. I have talked to my dealer and they are seeing what they can do but I am not putting a lot of faith in getting much out of them. The cover is only 9 months old and looks like it has gone through a war.
Thanks,
Jason...