Sealant Around Skimmer Opening?

[butterblum]

I am in the process of replacing my skimmer faceplate and screws (Hayward 1084), but am somewhat concerned about the rust on the BACK side of the liner - it appears that there was some kind of sealant applied around the interior joint, which now has some rust staining present.
The black material appears to be the gasket between the liner and the pool wall, but it looks too old to have been replaced when the liner was installed 4 years ago. I am afraid to try and replace this gasket and/or remove the existing sealant, as the gasket seems pretty fragile.
Is it normal to apply sealant here? Should I try to scrape off whatever is there and put a new bead on before raising the water level again?
Trying to get this figured out this weekend.....
Thanks

 

[Texas Splash]

Good morning! Did you make a decision yet? Sounded like you needed some info quickly so that you could top-off the water level. Let us know and we can try to reach out to some others if needed.

 

[butterblum]

Good morning! Did you make a decision yet? Sounded like you needed some info quickly so that you could top-off the water level. Let us know and we can try to reach out to some others if needed.

I'm not sure what the long-term implications of the rusty opening are, but I was able to patch it up and get it up and running again:
After pulling the old faceplate, I very carefully used a few different-sized wood chisels to gently remove the old sealant (whatever it was) without damaging the liner; during this process some small chunks of the rusty metal flange/wall broke off, which I had expected to happen.
I decided to leave the old gasket between the liner and wall alone because it was so fragile AND I didn't want to have debris trapped behind the liner until the next replacement.
I then used some rubbing alcohol to clean the skimmer opening and the back of the vinyl liner to help the sealant adhere, and also used some Vitamin C tabs to clean up the staining on the liner before the faceplate went back on.
I then ran a pretty generous bead of Loctite Marine PL around the sides and the bottom of the opening (not the top of the opening, and not the front either), and then pressed the faceplate into place, squishing the liner against/into the sealant. I installed all of the new screws and then 'tooled' the sealant and added a little more where necessary.
Polyurethane sealants are pretty sticky and hard to get perfectly smooth, so it's not perfect, but should do the job.
I cleaned up any excess sealant that got on the faceplate with mineral spirits before it had a chance to cure.

I am a little curious why I happened to have an acute case of rust from winterizing the pool this year, and this year only - I haven't had this issue any of the previous 3 winters, and it does not appear to be an accumulation of rust from prior years.
I'm also looking for some help determining what concerns the rusty wall/flange might hold for future usage/liner replacements.

But hopefully this will help someone else with the same problem in the future.