chanster

pathfinder, it appears that the covermate 3 attaches to the side of the spa, just below the fiberglass, with 10 screws. in my installation, the cover needs to lift to the left of the access panel (ie facing the access, the cover would fold to the left, not the rear), which means that the mount on that side would also screw the access panel into place...i would have to remove all those screws to get to the guts of the spa. that is doable, but i would rather avoid it. might there be another type of zero clearance lifter that would mount to the bottom of the spa and not restrict access to the panel? thanks chan

i just took delivery of a new marquis 641r (thanks to all of you who contributed to my earlier thread). the marquis dealer's only lifter required 20+ inches of rear clearance. my installation has the tub in a corner, facing my pool, with walls on two sides. due to the proximity of the house to the pool, i have to place the spa fairly close to the wall...about 12 inches. so i need a cover lifter that will use no more than 12 inches. it appears that all of the low-clearance lifters store the cover above and slightly behind the spa, not stored down behind it (which is fine). what brands/options are the best? any links to good dealers? thanks for all your help.

well, folks, here is how our testing is going so far: at the hot springs dealer, we first jumped into a jetsetter, just to check out the lounge. we aren't really considering a tub this small, but we liked it. my wife loooooves the moto massage. then we sat in a tiger springs (forget the model), it was ok. moved on to an envoy to check out the different jets and deeper lounge. lana floated in this one, and i felt like i was getting the c--p beat out of me. we are going to wet test a vanguard and sovereign tomorrow. they are asking 8295 (delivery, cover, step, chemicals) for the vanguard and 7696 for the sovereign, which comes with all of the above plus a cover lifter. these prices sound a bit high to me. the only tub that marquis dealer had wet was an epic. we loooooved it, but don't have the room for it. asking 9200. they have a 641r that we can make fit for 6900, we may wet test that one soon. i just don't see how the therapy in the 641r is going to compare to the epic. we never should have gotten in the epic, knowing that we could not make it fit! they also have a u530 in, but i did not ask price, thinking that we would not want the double lounger. our vita dealer only stocks the sport series. we wet tested an aurora, lana didn't float in it, and it was very nice, considering the price difference...6295 (delivery, cover, chemicals, ozone). i am still wary of the product, given medic's experience. on a slightly different topic...the hot springs dealer says he has a cover lifter that only needs 10 inches horizontal clearance (again, we are dealing with some space issues). however, the vita dealer said that the cover lifters with the shallow horizontal clearance designs tend to be weak and fail early. any comments on that? sadly, i did not get any brand names, other than the one the vita dealer sells, cover butler, which he said needed 19 inches. thanks for all your help... chan

i am not sure if he carries the reflections. the big question is, what are the differences between the series? the main vita site just shows the 100's and 700's. chan

hey travelingspaguy, thanks for the insight. i did not realize that the vita had a sport series, but now that i look at the website, i don't see any of the models that the dealer showed us on the site. i assume that the sport series is a downmarket line? the dealer quoted warranty of 5 years on mechanicals and 25 years on structure. i will question him further tomorrow. closest d1 dealer is about 100 miles away. not going to drive that far. as the other poster asked, i would appreciate more details on your comments about marquis. many thanks chan

i am new to this world, but my wife and i have decided to buy a spa. some particulars: we are limited to about 7 feet square. therapy is a big deal to my wife, she carries a lot of stress in her neck and shoulders. we want to be able to fit 4 adults in comfort. we live in the florida panhandle (panama city), so we don't have cold winters. we have 3 dealers in our town dealer 1 is a small franchise based out of a neighboring city. no service rep in our town, he comes over from the other city (70 miles) "as needed". guaranteed 72 hour response. they carry marquis and cal-spa. this forum speaks well of marquis, not so well of cal-spa...should they be avoided?. salesman spoke highly of HS (competing spa) and bashed vita. dealer 2 is a franchised pool-supply place that carries hot springs, tiger river, and another brand i forget. service tech is local. prices are higher than the others, no doubt because of the HS name. sovereign 7695, prodigy 6495. nice salesman with decent knowledge. are these prices sounding in line? dealer 3 is a small one-location shop that has been there as long as i can remember. salesman is the owner. tech on site. seemed very informed and helpful. he sells vita. quoted 4495 for madrid, 4995 for mirage, delivered, set up, cover, chemicals...ie very competitive prices. we will wet test tuesday. we really like the vita dealer. this forum speaks of blistering problems with vita, including one long thread where the owner had quite a run-around...but it appears that his problem was finally taken care of, with a replacement spa. does vita still have a blistering issue, or other issues that i should consider? any help would be appreciated! we hope to be soaking in a week or so!