To conclude this particular story, I ended up picking up a 15′ diameter, 42″ deep pool from Target for $200. It took a day to fill up, with a brief setback when we had to empty a few inches of water to move it to more level ground, but setup was relatively easy. We made one small hole in the side during this process, but the patch seems to be holding well.
So far, the pool is very enjoyable. We bought one of the chlorine floaters and run the filter/pump that came with the pool daily, and it’s working well. We also picked up a solar cover. I would prefer it to be a bit bigger, but it seems perfect for my kids (both under 10), and it’s just big enough to make it worthwhile for me to get in a toss them around a bit.
Now, if this marine layer would go away so the solar cover had something to work with!
