Element 5.45m × 3.35m Fibreglass Pool

Yes — and that is precisely what the raking floor is for. Element is the smallest pool in the Bayside range with a raking floor, dropping from 1.30 m at the shallow end to 1.68 m at the deep end. Shallow enough for the little ones to stand, deep enough for a proper bomb.

No — and it does not need a Producer Statement either. At approximately 21,500 litres the Element is under the 35,000 litre threshold, so it is exempt work under Schedule 1 of the Building Act. There is no consent to apply for and no engineering paperwork to chase. It is still built to AS 1838 / NZS AS 1838, and pool fencing requirements still apply.

You can swim. It is not a lap pool — at 5.45 m you will not be training for the Olympics — but 1.68 m at the deep end is real swimming depth, and the bench means the grown-ups have somewhere to sit that is not the edge.

1.30 m at the shallow end, raking down to 1.68 m at the deep end. Bayside specifies depth as shell height — measured on the shell itself, top of the shell down to the base — so the figure matches the engineering drawing and your specification sheet exactly.

Approximately 21,500 litres. That is a real family volume, but not so much that heating it becomes a project — a heat pump will bring it up to temperature and hold it there without working hard.

Comfortably. The swim area is clear, the steps and bench stay out of the middle, and 3.35 m of width gives you room to move without standing on each other. It is the smallest pool we would genuinely call a family pool.

Yes — that is exactly who it is designed for. At 5.45 × 3.35 m it suits mid-sized outdoor areas without dominating the section, and it leaves room for the landscaping, the deck, and the part of the yard the dog has plans for.

Enough to keep the setbacks and fencing the law requires, plus machinery access to dig. Send us photos or measurements and we will tell you honestly whether it fits — including whether the digger can get in.

A standard dig-out is included in your quote. Beyond that, what varies is the site: how easily machinery reaches the backyard, how far excavated fill has to be trucked, whether stormwater or services are in the way, and whether the pool needs craning over a fence or the house. Your local installer prices your property before anything is committed, so the figure you agree up front is the figure you pay.

Bayside shells are manufactured to AS 1838 / NZS AS 1838 — Swimming pools: premoulded fibre-reinforced plastics, design and fabrication — and installed to AS 1839 / NZS AS 1839, its installation companion. Those standards set out what a fibreglass pool shell has to be: the layers it is built from, the loads it has to cope with, and the curing and defect requirements before it ever leaves the factory. They are the same standards the Australian and New Zealand industry builds to, and we build to them on every pool, consented or not.

In layers, by hand, and every one of them has a job. From the water out: the gelcoat, which is the coloured surface you swim against; the corrosion barrier, a resin-rich layer that keeps water out of the laminate and is what stops osmotic blistering; the structural glass laminate, the chopped and woven glass that carries the load and holds the shape; a core and rib reinforcement, which stiffens the walls and the top flange; and an outer sealing coat against ground moisture. We finish the swimming surface with ChlorShield, our chemical-resistant surface technology.

It depends where you measure, and that is deliberate. The floor, the walls, the steps and the corners each carry a different load, so each is laminated to a different thickness. As a guide: our wall laminates run around 7–9 mm, while the corners and the steps run 12–15 mm because that is where the loads concentrate. Every model differs too — a 12 metre shell is laminated heavier than a 3.6 metre one. That is not us cutting corners, it is how a fibreglass shell is meant to be built: the standard sets the layers and the loads, and thickness follows the design for each part of the pool.

Yes. Every shell is made in our Whakatane factory and the production data is recorded against it — batch numbers, amounts used and thickness sprayed at each layer. If you want the lay-up details for the Element, or for the exact pool you are quoted, ask and we will put them in writing.

Every shell is made in our Whakatane factory, not shipped in from overseas, and it is inspected and signed off at each stage — lay-up, curing, gelcoat and finish. The shell is tracked and traced through the build, so if we need to look up anything about your pool in five years, we can. It is also why you are welcome to visit the factory and watch it being made.

This is, unofficially, the benchmark we design to. There is a wrap-around bench for the seated version and open water for the horizontal one. We recommend the drink before the lilo, not during.

Eventually. Expect negotiations at dinner time. On the upside, 1.68 m at the deep end and a clear swim area means they will sleep well — and so will you.

Usually the same thing: “how big is it?” followed by “when can we come over?” At 5.45 × 3.35 m the Element is the polite middle ground — a proper pool you can swim in, without taking the whole backyard.