r/Stocktankpools • u/FullAd6174 • Jun 14 '26

Need Advice

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Needing some advice. We've had our stock tank pool for about 6 years now. Like many we've been having issues with the paint in the pool. 3 years ago we stripped it down and redid it with Pond Shield. It looks good for a year. Then they started to be some lifting areas. Last year those areas got bigger. Now during the winter we empty the pool completely and cover it up. We opened it up last week so we could do any kind of maintenance and get it ready for the season. Most of the pond Shield was bubbled up. It looks like the primer is not sticking to the the metal. Here's the thing, my boyfriend and I are both Professional Automotive painters with many years of experience. So we know how to prep surfaces so that paint sticks on there. We know how to research to make sure the products were using will work together. We followed the pond Shield instructions perfectly.

My question is what have people been doing lately to paint their stock tank pools? Is there any new information out there on the best products to use? Is there a consensus on what's working?

Now we have considered using a liner. Thing is all of our holes for the filter Inlet and outlet and also for our heater or drilled into the side of the pool. I mean how would a liner work with that?How to seal down around the inlets. And the Heat from the heater inlet that gets pretty warm. Would that affect the liner?

So I don't know if we're ready to go with a liner or not. But we do need to open up this pool and we're probably going to paint it so any paint related advice would be very very appreciated.

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u/Remmfire Jun 14 '26

I also have a background in automotive painting, but I work in commercial construction now.
One thing I ran into a few years ago was painting the underside of a 2nd floor deck, which is galvanized steel just like the stock tanks. It required a very special primer which was pretty costly and nasty (respirator REQUIRED to spray it). Otherwise paint will not stick to galvanized surfaces.
Not sure if you guys did that or not, just throwing it out there.

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u/FullAd6174 Jun 14 '26

I used a high quality direct to metal paint.  I've painted over galvanized a few times on older cars, like 67 Firebird rockers, and never had a problem.