Spa pools are popular

Press, 22 November 1978, Page 10

Spa pools are popular

A Christchurch firm is marketing a product designed to help meet the growing demand in New Zealand for spa pools. Wright Spa Pools, an Opawa company, has been selling “hot-tubs” for about six months. Made of wood, and shaped like a barrel sawn in half, “hottubs” are proving an attractive alternative to the

more usual fibreglass or concrete pools. Although spa pools have been enjoyed for thousands of years, their popularity has soared in recent years, particularly overseas. The fashion has now spread to Ne Zealand. Wooden tubs are a relatively new innovation in New Zealand, and are seen as having several advantages of other methods of

construction. Not only do they give a more natural look, but installation time can be reduced, and they can be sold in kit-set form for the home handyman. The pools marketed by Wrights vary from 1.3 m in diameter to 2.6 m The smaller will hold two persons, while the larger caters for up to a dozen. Water depth varies between Im and 1.3 m. Prices begin about $l4OO. Wright Pools makes the filtration and pumping equipment, and installs the plumbing, while Swim-

ming Pool Construction, Ltd, makes the wooden tubs themselves. The filtration equipment used was specially designed, and is under patent. “We tried to buy suitable equipment but it just was not available,” said the company’s manager (Mr M. J. Wright). “So we had to make everything from scratch.” Although the “hot-tubs” can be fitted into a bathroom, they are not intended as a bath, Mr Wright emphasises.