[Edit - resolved] - Skimmer cut-outs too big?

[SoapySmith]

My kit came with two panels pre-cut for my two widemouth skimmers. I've now discovered that whoever cut my skimmer cutouts at the panel factory seems to not have known what they were doing. The wall panels are supposed to be cut for Hayward 1085 skimmers, which seems to be a pretty standard size. The 1085 cut size is noted right on the sticker on the panel, and in fact, looking at my other (non-pre-cut) panels, there are nice little indented guidelines and screw hole marks that someone could use to know where to cut for skimmers. Should be dummy proof. Nope. Mine are pre-cut way bigger than that, so that there is no panel left where the screws are supposed to go. Max cut-out size for a 1085 type skimmer is 6 1/4 x 15 13/16... Mine are 7 9/16 x 17 5/16. In other words, they cut the darn things to the 1085 manual's dimensions for the face plate.

And of course the best part is that my walls already fully installed, including the concrete collar.

Now what? Can I patch the poorly cut holes with steel (can you do that on polymer walls?) and move my skimmer locations to the next panels over, where I can cut for them myself and do it correctly? Am I missing something? Recommendations? Obviously I am not happy with the manufacturer, to say the least, but just trying to figure out the way forward.

And by the way, I doubt mine are the only ones that somebody messed up. For anybody else on here building a kit with Latham polymer walls and pre-cut skimmers, check your cut-out sizes before you install those panels!

 

[kevinp768]

This may be a stupid question, but is there another skimmer brand that would fit the hole you have in the polymer wall? or could you make some type of insert for the larger opening that would accept the 1085 skimmer?

 

[SoapySmith]

Not a stupid question - but not that I can tell. I tried to look and I wasn’t able to identify anything. But if anybody has a thought for a different one that might be bigger, that would be awesome!

This may be a stupid question, but is there another skimmer brand that would fit the hole you have in the polymer wall? or could you make some type of insert for the larger opening that would accept the 1085 skimmer?

 

[SoapySmith]

So maybe crisis averted - l spoke with William at Royal (who has been awesome, by the way -- I know they have a pretty good reputation for customer support on here and so far that seems well-deserved to me). I guess most of the manuals out there that say you need to screw the skimmer into the wall through the primary holes right around the edge are confusingly specific to above-ground pools. For in-ground, you want to use the mounting ears and put the main skimmer flange right through the hole in the wall -- so the wall is not part of the "sandwich" despite what's shown in the manual diagrams. So that should work for me, and means my skimmer cut-outs are in fact correct. Back to plumbing. But thought I would leave this up (with an edited title) for anybody who finds themselves similarly confused in the future and runs a search.

 

[jimmythegreek]

That's something almost every DIY stares at for a while. You would think they would explain better I was just gonna post pics and explain for you but you figured it out