Welcome to our forum.
You don't suppose Gary happens to sell a brand that uses fiberglass, do you. I'm guessing this is another version of the FF/thermopane and bypass/no-bypass debates. I imagine all tubs were fiberglass the old days, but with all the materials/construction techniques available today, it is probably more a marketing tool than anything. I expect at least one mfg to state that their FF tubs are "so well supported you don't need costly and enviromentally unfriendly fiberglass", and another to use a "space-age material 100x stronger than fiberglass".
The biggest problem with this method is you cannot cover the entire shell, you have to leave open areas to drill for the jets. So if you are off a little you will have portions of the shell with no support. I have seen this on just about every brand that does it this way and when they crack you have a leaking spa.
QuoteYou don't suppose Gary happens to sell a brand that uses fiberglass, do you. The only thing I sell is service!Have you ever seen you push any brand of spa on this forum, let me answer for you. It is no. I only try to offer advice on what I know.
You don't suppose Gary happens to sell a brand that uses fiberglass, do you.
QuoteQuoteYou don't suppose Gary happens to sell a brand that uses fiberglass, do you. The only thing I sell is service!Have you ever seen you push any brand of spa on this forum, let me answer for you. It is no. I only try to offer advice on what I know.Sorry that I lumped you in with the bozos that use every consumer's question to position their brand as superior. It's just that whenever I see statement like "... is the only way to go" without discussing pros and cons fairly, I assume they are trying to sell something. It is so hard for a consumer to sort out which is important, which is just theoretically better, but practically unimportant--or worse yet, marketing fluff. IMO, there is more than one way to construct a good performing, long lasting tub. Now back to trying to understand if this is important to a consumer: Given your strong support of fiberglass, is it fair to assume that you see a lot more shell failures on HS and D1 spas than other major brands? Would you recommend an off-brand fiberglass spa over HS/D1?
Well, I am a consumer (who is in the process of shopping for a spa) and it's important to ME! This is a confusing arena for a shopper, and I am looking for any product differentiators I can find.
Hello Gary,Sounds reasonable. It sounds like spas with fiberglass shells are superior to those with other types of construction. This shopper wants to know which manufacturers use fiberglass, and those who do not. Can you (and other posters) take a shot at a list here?Thanks!Altazi
I think that Altazi is looking to this forum to collect all the information that he can to help him make a really hard decision. What is important to one person, may not be as important to another, but having as much information as possible is the goal. How relative it is to anything, would have to be a consumer's call.I asked the question because I don't remember any reference to it before....Gary answered the question because he made the original statement and because he would obviously be in a real good position to evaluate the value of fiber glass on a tub..so in my mind, he is the test lab. I did not mean this post to start any kind of argument, just to understand the concept. :-/