liner lock

[Diver]

I have a vinyl lined pool. The liner is in good condition, but is pretty old – 13 or so years. Every year when I open the pool I find the liner out of track and every year I put it back. It takes some hot water, a lot of effort and usually 2 or 3 weeks, since I get bloody thumbs and I need to let them heal before I can finish it:




I’d like to void doing this since it’s a PIA and I don’t want to stress the liner much. I looked into liner lock and got some just to find out that there is no way it’s gonna go in:





I didn’t realized it was very soft and no amount of gentle persuasion will make it go in. The question is – did I get the wrong type of the liner lock? I saw some other ones online, but they were somewhat similar. Is there a special technic that will make it go in? As you can see the channel with the liner in it is pretty tight. Is there anything else I can try to make the liner stay in? It's usually in the corners where there stress on the liner the highest.

Thanks!

 

[DeeMac]

We used that and my husband used a rubber mallet to help it in. Works great !

 

[Diver]

i tried the rubber handle of one of the tools i have, but the lock was way to soft.. i might get a mallet and give it another try, but i'm somewhat doubtful it would work.

does the track that you have look as tight as mine?

 

[DeeMac]

Ours might have a bit more room. I do remember it was not easy to get it in all the way. Remembering back, he might have used the rubber end of the hammer to hold it in place and then hit the top of the hammer with the mallet.

 

[jasonknox]

Your gap looks tighter than mine. If I am not mistaken liners come with different types beads. Your pool liner may have a larger bead than the coping can handle thus leaving no room for the liner lock. I bought liner lock for my pool when I bought the liner but never had to use it.