Abstract: A system for deploying and recovering a cover over a space like a swimming pool having a reel housing that has extensions and a base that may be used to securely mount the reel housing in a receptacle like a recess box. The extensions and the base may brace the reel housing which is made of inelastic or non-deformable material which may be thick metal. The ropes are shortened in length so that there is no excess when the cover is in its fully open position. The ropes are selected to be inelastically deformable. A motor drives the rope reels in the reel housing and the drum for the cover. The clutch that engages either the rope reels or the drum has a non-sacrificial pin to ensure that the clutch and the reels or the drum remain driven and engaged. The cover has outside edges that slide in tracks secured along the edge of the space to be covered. Stop blocks are secured to the outside edge so that the edge is in tension when the cover is positioned over the space to be covered.