Intex Easy Set Pools: Childhood summers couldn't get easier

I still recall my first summer in Southern California at the age of 10 after moving from the Philippines. Immediately, I went to summer school and met my first friend in the new country. He had a swimming pool, but it was unlike any pool that I've ever seen. It wasn't dugged in the ground and cemented as I've seen them in Filipino TV.

To me, it looked like a very big water drum that we used commonly in the Philippines. It had metal walls and stood upright on top of the grass. But it was bluish, like a swimming pool, and real big. Much, much bigger than any water drum I've seen. It was wide enough for kids to swim across from one side to another. And since I'm short, I had to use a swimming pool floatie to keep from sinking.

It was an above the ground swimming pool. And it was fun.

That was the first pool I've ever swam in. We spent everyday swimming in Chris's pool that summer. I'm not sure how big it was. But as a young boy, it was plenty big to me for countless hours of summer fun.

It's been awhile now since above-the-ground swimming pools interested me.  But we looked into it for our family back then, and it looked to be a pain in the ass.  The installation required big metal walls to be cobbled together and the lining was going to take more than two adults of my parents' small stature to layover the pool.  My mom and dad were not quite up to the task.  That's why we didn't get one.

Additionally, I discovered a few years later that maintenance would be equally painful because the linings tend to tear.  Not to mention the usual pump problems and water treatment.  But the reason not to get one pretty much came down to the installation.  As I recall my dad's word who was an accountant by trade, "You have to be an engineer to fix this."  Or something along those lines in Filipino accent.

I came across the Intex Easy Set Pool as I was looking to buy a gift for my out-of-state nieces and nephew.  I had no plans of setting it up for them, but I'd like to make it easy on my sisters since they are well aware of our family's past effort in trying to get a swimming pool above ground.

With the Intex Easy Set Pool, the installation should be "easy" enough that my sisters and their husbands can set it up within an hour or two.  The ads say 15 minutes, but I doubt that.

Still, the way I see it, there are no bulky metal walls to piece together as in most conventional above ground swimming pools.  So you don't have to be a handyman to set it up.  The only thing you need to do is find a flat ground and literally lay out the pieces like a blanket on a surface.  See the video.

If they choose unsalted water, they'll have to do more water treatment to keep it safe.  And of course, they have to be on the lookout out for leaks.  No matter what the manufacturer guarantees about the toughness of the materials, kids and, perhaps, nature will find a way to wreck it.