Al talks about why he builds Hybrid and how he started!
I was challenged quite a few years ago to do something that I’d never done in a vinyl liner pool. This customer loved vinyl, but they also wanted custom features of a gunite pool. So, that was the day that hybrid was born. What it’s done for me is it’s allowed me to give all of the custom features of a gunite pool, which there’s a lot more in gunite than anything else, but then also the comfort of vinyl.
When you’re in a vinyl liner pool, the surface is smooth, and it’s comfortable, and it’s easy. It doesn’t tear up your feet; it doesn’t tear up your bathing suit and all of that; where, in a gunite pool, it tends to be rough because it’s plaster. The surface can start out really smooth, but over time it’s going to tend to get rough.
By doing partial gunite, partial vinyl, I can make the main body of the water very functional and very comfortable to swim in. Then the gunite sections, used to be we would have to pebble them and they would tend to be rough, but we’ve added to our line the ecoFinish system, which allows us to now powder-coat the surface of plaster with a powder-coated plastic finish, which gives it just a little bit of grip so it’s comfortable to walk up and down the steps, but it’s not rough, and it’s not going to tear up the bathing suits, and tear up people’s feet, and all of that. So, it’s a great blend of both. By adding ecoFinish, it really took our work to the next level, because now we’ve eliminated all of that sense of roughness that a gunite pool is known for.
