A lot of above ground pools are plumbed with hoses instead of hard pipe. Mine is hard piped as yours is.
If you drain your pool below the return then you can skip to step #4.
Here's what I do. First, I don't drain any water out of the pool. It never freezes enough here to need it.
1) I raise the FC to SLAM level and let it run for a day.
2) I have a piece of PVC with a 1½" male threaded adapter, short piece of pipe, 90º elbow and enough pipe to stick above the waterline but stay under the cover.
2a) I remove the eyeball and thread the adapter into the fitting.
2b) Then I assemble the short pipe into it and put the 90 on it turned upright and the longer piece of pipe into the upturned port of the 90. You can glue it all together if you want, but I don't. It will friction fit tight enough not to leak if you hammer it together well.
3) I also use a 3' section of vacuum hose stuck into the port in the skimmer and draped over the top of it. You can use a blowout gizmo if you don't have a section of vacuum hose.
4) Once I have that in place, I disconnect and drain all the equipment and then blow out all the lines with my leaf blower.
4a) I put the drain plugs, eyeball fitting, etc in the pump basket so they don't get misplaced. I also drop the skimmer lid and basket into the pool. I'll fish them out when I open next year.
5) Then I remove the steps and sit them on the deck
6) Then I put the cover on. I use half filled bleach jugs to hold the cover down. I don't use the cable and winch but you can if you want.
