Summer has finally arrived and just about everybody in the Okanagan wishes they had a backyard pool to jump in right now.
Unfortunately, most middle-class homes don't have the money or the time to design and install an in-ground backyard pool.
That's where Abbotsford couple Paul and Denise Rathnam are making a big splash in the world of outdoor recreation.
The entrepreneurial team launched Modpools at the B.C. Home + Garden Show in Vancouver earlier this year.
Modpools are reinventing the backyard pool industry by converting shipping containers into pools.
"A Modpool comes completely self-contained, whereas a regular pool requires a long process of excavation, pouring concrete, building a detached pool room with all the equipment and then piping it over," said Co-founder Paul Rathnam.
"There's this modern ability now using modular designs that give you the option to be able to just drop a pool in your yard, hook it up and use it right away."
Each Modpool is a custom order which takes about eight weeks to fill. For the standard size, eight feet wide by 20 feet long, and just over five feet deep, the price in Canada is $35,000 delivered, not including tax.
Rathnam said people like the idea of repurposing shipping containers.
“People like to get behind it,” he said. “The traditional pool is a symbol of excess and waste. This is a little more modern, more modest. We’re repurposing something rather than recycling. This pool can be resold, and you can take it with you if you move.”
After manufacturing shipping containers for the oil and gas industry for years, Rathnam was looking for something new.
Combining his knowledge of manufacturing containers with the desire to have a pool in the backyard for his family led to drawing up the original design for Modpools.
"The family wanted a swimming pool, so I thought worst case scenario I'm my own customer. I have the manufacturing capability and if no one wants the pool, we can keep it and it will just be a one off type deal," explained Rathnam.
The design has proved popular as Modpools have now been shipped to California, Texas, Florida and even Ibiza, Spain.
"To make the container suitable for use as a pool, various structural modifications are made, including adding a heavy-duty pool coping to the top edge. "This gives the container walls the strength to hold in the 4,800 gallons of water," Rathnam explained.
The team also adds a sanitation and heating system, a colour-changing LED light and eight jacuzzi jets.
A portion of one wall is cut away to make room for a viewing window measuring 1.2 by 2.4 metres (or larger if requested). The pool also comes equipped with an interior partition made of sturdy, heat-resistant plastic that is used to separate the pool from the jacuzzi.
Pumps can convert the pool into an "endless swim spa", in which a strong current enables a user to swim in one place.
Two different sizes are offered – a 2.4-by-six-metre version, which costs $35,000 Canadian, and a 2.4-by-12-metre version, which costs $45,000 Canadian.
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