Actually that's not true. Our first tub was used and boy were we proud of it. We had saved up about $1,000 and promised ourselves we would go looking for one when we had raised that much.
One weekend we embarked on a shopping trip loaded up with circled newspaper ads promising "8 person tub, great shape, $500 and you haul away" or "Slightly used tub needs a bit of TLC, yours for $800", or my personal favourite "Beachcomber tub, holds water and never been peed in"
So off we went, full of enthusiasm and anticipation, dreams of soaking underneath the stars that very weekend with a bottle of chardonnay. Oh the thrill of it! Our first stop was a laugher....an old chap led us into his backyard and showed us the "8 person tub in great shape". Yup, there it was in all its beauty and glory. Our first hot tub! or not....... I had to hold myself back from asking him where exactly he thought 8 people might fit. Not only that, but the rotten wood and absence of motor and pump led us to believe this tub might not be in the great shape he claimed it to be. We exchanged some pleasantries and lied about what a lovely backyard he had and how he must have enjoyed the tub in its hay day and promised him that he was on the top of our list. The poor man probably thought he had a sale by the end of the day.
Well, we didn't fair very well the rest of the day either. We hit a lot of places, saw a lot of lousy tubs and as twilight drew near, dragged ourselves back home. Either we needed to increase our budget or catch a better break.
The next day it came. A local tub for sale, still hooked up with water in it, the advertisement beckoning "Come and see, bring your bathing suit and test it out, $1500 OBO". Whoo hoo! We beat a path over to the home and bought the tub (we left our suits at home). We loved the tub and had it for a few years.
I was never good at stabilising the water and had no patience to read the instructions, or learn about the science of water. My motto was "when in doubt, chlorinate". I swear the tree above our hot tub died for this reason. It was a perfectly good Maple when we moved there, but darned if it didn't start dying the day we put in the tub and I began heaping in buckets of chlorine. I'm not sure but birds stop coming around then too. But hey....the tub was clean clean clean!!!! Nothing could or would survive in that water. Unfortunately it killed more than just the tree and chased the birds away. Flip, I was going through a pair of shorts every few weeks, developed rashes in the darndest places, and eventually it ate out our hot tub cover and burned out the heater element.Well, we learned our lesson. No more chlorine, lets switch to bromine! We bought a new cover, installed a new heater element and off we went. Our tub was as good as new. The bromine seemed milder but still toxic. We bought a box full of other chemicals to stablilise the water but never could get it right. PH up, PH down, Clarifier, Foam Away, Boost, De-scale, and these were the ones I could read. Whatever we did would not work for us. Every stinking day I had to go outside to test the water just in case we wanted to go in that night. What a pain. There had to be a better solution!
A few weeks later we learned the tub was dying a slow death. The acrylic began to thin, the motor was making noise, and the temperature thermometer fluctuated so much one night it could be 110 (Which is the temperature they do lobsters in Nova Scotia), and another night it would be down to 90 (Which is like sitting in a bathtub with your buddy). Leaks developed, and I did everything to save the poor bugger. I chipped away the foam underneath to find the leak, re-fiberglass, refill, reheat, all for naught as another leak spring up. I remember the last day. One final leak and I rammed my screwdriver through the acrylic. I couldnt stand the slow death so I killed it, gathered up my tools and walked inside the house to break the news.....
Hunny.....it's dead......
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