By Zach Wennstedt, owner of Aging Safely Baths. Selling and installing accessible bathing since 2012. Updated September 2026.
Every walk in tub brochure says "premium shell." Almost none of them tell you what the shell is made of, and that one word decides how the tub looks in year ten, how it is repaired after a dropped shampoo bottle, how warm it feels on a January morning, and what it weighs on the way up the stairs. There are two materials that matter: acrylic and gelcoat fiberglass. Here is the honest comparison, brand by brand, from someone who has installed both for fourteen years.
Acrylic (Ella's Bubbles, Meditub): a thick acrylic sheet thermoformed over fiberglass, glossy, warm, color all the way through, scratches polish out. Gelcoat fiberglass (Hydro Dimensions, most TV brands): fiberglass laid into a mold behind a gelcoat surface, very strong, repairable in place, USA-made in Hydro Dimensions' case, gloss can dull over decades. Both carry lifetime shell warranties. Pick by the features and door style you need, then let the material be the tiebreaker.
How each shell is made
Acrylic
A sheet of cast acrylic, typically an eighth of an inch thick, is heated and vacuum-formed over a tub mold. The shell is then reinforced from behind with sprayed fiberglass and resin and set on a stainless or powder-coated steel frame with leveling feet. The color is the acrylic itself, so it runs the full depth of the sheet.
Gelcoat fiberglass
The mold is first sprayed with a gelcoat, a pigmented polyester resin about 20 thousandths of an inch thick, which becomes the visible surface. Layers of chopped fiberglass and resin are then laid up behind it for strength. The result is a very rigid, repairable shell. Hydro Dimensions builds its HD Series this way in California; the major national TV brands use the same construction.
Side by side
| Acrylic | Gelcoat fiberglass | |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Glossy, non-porous, warm to the touch | Glossy when new, can dull over many years, slightly cooler |
| Color | Through the sheet; deep scratches can be polished | Surface layer; chips are filled and re-gelcoated in place |
| Stain and chemical resistance | Excellent; avoid abrasives | Good; avoid abrasives, some cleaners can haze it |
| Strength and flex | Strong, slight flex without cracking | Very rigid, strong; heavier lay-up |
| Weight | Lighter shells (200 to 230 lbs typical) | Similar to slightly heavier |
| Repair | Buff and polish; fill kits for deep gouges | Gelcoat repair kits, invisible when done well |
| Brands we install | Ella's Bubbles, Meditub | Hydro Dimensions (USA-made) |
| Shell warranty | Lifetime limited | Lifetime |
| Price | Slightly higher | Slightly lower for equivalent size |
What ten years actually looks like
We have been back in bathrooms we installed in 2013 and 2014. Both materials hold up when they are cleaned with a soft cloth and a non-abrasive cleaner, and both look tired when someone has scrubbed them with a scouring pad. The gelcoat tubs from that era show a little less gloss in the seat area; the acrylic tubs show fine swirl marks that a polish removes. Neither has cracked, leaked or stained through. Door seals, which are a wear item on every brand, needed replacing on a handful of both, an easy service call.
The honest conclusion is that for a bather who will use the tub every day for a decade, either material is a good decision. The features around the shell, the door swing, the seat width, the jets, the heated seat, matter far more to daily life than the shell chemistry.
Where the material does change the decision
- Wheelchair transfer tubs. Ella's outward-swing Transfer series is acrylic; Hydro Dimensions offers outward-swing on its W models in gelcoat. If you need a 36 inch outward door and a 29 inch seat, the TransferXXL is acrylic and that is the tub.
- Made in USA. Hydro Dimensions molds and finishes gelcoat tubs in California. Ella and Meditub import acrylic shells and finish and assemble in the U.S. If country of origin is the deciding factor, gelcoat it is.
- Self-install. Hydro Dimensions backs supply-only tubs with a 1-year labor warranty when the manual is followed; that is a gelcoat advantage that has nothing to do with the material.
- Deep soakers. HD 3155D and 3260D (gelcoat) and Ella Elite and Royal (acrylic) are the deep options; pick by depth and width, not shell.
- Repairs in place. A chipped gelcoat tub is repaired with a color-matched gelcoat kit without removing the tub. A deeply gouged acrylic tub is filled and polished. Both are service calls, not replacements.
Cleaning and care, both materials
- Soft cloth or sponge; non-abrasive bathroom cleaner or dish soap. No scouring powder, no magic erasers, no bleach on gelcoat.
- Rinse jets after use; run the ozone or flush cycle as the manual says on hydro tubs.
- Leave the door open to dry the seal; inspect the seal twice a year.
- Wax gelcoat once a year with automotive or marine wax to keep the gloss; acrylic can be polished with a plastic polish if it dulls.
- Never use bath oils in a jetted tub of either material.
Bottom line
Buy the tub with the right door, seat and therapy for the bather. If two finalists tie, choose acrylic for warmth and polish-out scratches, gelcoat for USA manufacturing and in-place chip repair. Every tub we install carries a lifetime shell warranty either way, and we will tell you on the phone which material each model is.