Abstract: A latch system that attaches to a retractable load bearing pool cover. The latch system interconnects deployable and retractable load-bearing floor panels or pool cover panels that may be separable into individual sections for compact vertical stacking and storage when the panels are retracted.

Abstract: A retractable load-bearing cover apparatus is selectively deployable and retractable along a track defining a path of travel between first and second terminus points. The load-bearing cover apparatus includes a plurality of sections that are deployable along the track in a first direction, and retractable along the track in a second, opposite direction, wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of sections are releasably engagable to one another. The cover apparatus includes a drive system for deploying and retracting the sections along the track, and a storage system for disengaging the sections and arranging such disengaged sections into a vertically stacked orientation.