Hot tub owners know they must replace their hot tub covers every 5 years or so, as soon as signs of wear and tear occur. These signs can include breaking, cracking, bending, losing heat or retaining water. When it comes time to measure for a new one, though, the task can seem intimidating. Never fear! We here at The Pros will talk you through it one of the measurement challenges: the skirt.
What Is A Skirt?
First a quick primer on parts of the hot tub and the cover itself. The tub consists of the acrylic tub insert and the box in which the tub is contained, also called the cabinet. The cover consists of a top layer containing the foam inserts and a vinyl skirt that wraps around the outside of the cover. The shell of the hot tub protrudes up past the level of the cabinet, so that if looked at from the side there is usually a few inches of shell poking up beyond the box, which the skirt of the cover is meant to hide when the cover is on.
Measuring for the Skirt
Decide where you want your skirt to hang. Most commonly the skirt hangs down only to the level of the cabinet, so that when the lid is on you can still see the entire outside of the box. If this is where you want it to hit, measure the length of the skirt from the top of the acrylic shell to where it meets the cabinet top, usually only a few inches.
Alternatively, you can let the skirt hang down past the lip of the cabinet (the part at the top that sticks out horizontally, creating a ledge over the rest of the base). In this case, make the skirt measurement long enough to cover the acrylic shell and the cabinet lip, and hang down past it a few inches. Also, be careful to make the cover sized to the cabinet dimensions so the skirt will be out far enough.
Since the skirt is one of the main barriers between your hot tub and the outside world, getting the measurement right is paramount. Follow these directions and you can’t go wrong.
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