This is the third year I have set up a vinyl carport over the hot tub. We use the tub most weekends with the grandkids who love jumping in and swimming underwater. The tub also has one strong badu jet that we call the river. It pushes us across the tub and the kids like to swim against the current.
This entire fall has been warmer than average with daytime temperatures in the 70’s and nights in the 50’s so it wasn’t until December that it seemed time to set up the tent. We started to set it up by assembling the frame and installing the roof panel. The long walls had been destroyed by a huge wind storm in March so I ordered a couple of large poly tarps to enclose the sides. Unfortunately before we had a chance to install them we had another enormous wind storm. We even lost power for almost two days as the power company was concerned about the fire danger if the poles fell. It has been extremely dry as well and those conditions were very dangerous for wide spread fires.
I happened to be outside working on the tent when the huge wind came. Luckily three teenage boys were getting ready to use the spa because the winds that started that afternoon were off the charts. I was literally standing on the storage box and holding the tent down, yelling for help! They came out and we loosened the stakes and let it fall against the shed. And we took the roof off so that it would not catch the wind and blow away. The wind gusts not far from us were recorded at over 100 mph. I think it was gusting over 40mph when we were rescuing the tent.
Not long after as the weather was still balmy I went out and found enough of a combination of pipes to replace those that were bent in the wind. Over three years I have purchased two complete sets of this carport so I had some extra poles. Each spring I let it stay up too long and it gets damaged by high winds.
After the second setup of the frame and roof we were able to attach the new clear poly walls. They fit well although a bit longer than the side poles are tall. These walls are a great option because the sun shines through them and warms the interior. The spa is much nicer to swim in with the temperature a bit warmer and out of the wind.
But the wind is really strong here. The whole tent is leaning after the last wind storm where gusts reached 48 mph. I propped it up because the weather is supposed to get warmer and we can do a better job of reassembling some of the poles that came apart in the wind. I’m not sure there is a better solution. I’m disappointed that the same carport I purchased in the past no longer has vinyl windows, instead they are just screens with roll up blinds. I suppose I can sew vinyl over them. Or just use the poly tarps that let the sunshine in. I will need another frame if I’m going to keep this answer to winter spa use next year.