Another question about a skimmer crack

[sonnaps]

I searched the forums thoroughly before I posted, but still just have a few questions for those that have repaired cracks in their skimmer before.

I just moved into this house a little over a year ago, so I am new to owning and taking care of a pool. This season, I noticed a black ring in and around my skimmer. It looked a little gooey, and was greasy when I tried to remove it. It smeared around and was difficult to get off. I searched these forums and came to the conclusion it was something environmental, not from a new pool motor or from people using lotions and such in the pool. We have only been in the pool once or twice this season. I followed some suggestions to clean thoroughly with paper towels, and follow up with a magic eraser. It worked great. The skimmer was cleaner than I ever saw it before. I also bought a scum ball to see if it will keep it from coming back.

In any case, after the skimmer was so clean, I could now see there was a crack there. You couldn't see it before because of all the black scum around the sides. It doesn't seem like I am losing any water as of now. I plan on smearing some two part epoxy over it this weekend. The epoxy I ended up buying is the Epoxybond Pool Putty 2-Part Set from Amazon. I wanted to get some Hayward ECX1308 Schmear Pellets, but they are either out of stock everywhere or have been discontinued. These are my questions for those who have done this before.

1. Should I clean the area with some acetone first?
2. Should I sand the area first with some rough sand paper?
3. The tail of crack #1 is very thin towards the water line. Should I use a Dremel or something to v-groove it a bit and widen it, or is that too risky? or should I just try to force the epoxy putty in there as much as I can and that's it?
4. From my past woodworking experience, if I had a hairline crack like this crack #1, I would drill a small hole at the end where it stops to keep it from spidering down even more in the future before I do any epoxy work. Is this too risky as well? Will I hit something behind there or go through a secondary plastic wall behind that area? I was thinking a small 1/8" drill bit to just round that split out.
5. Finally, if you look really closely at my pictures, I see a ton of micro stress cracks all over. I'm thinking this skimmer doesn't have much life left in it. I am assuming it's original to the house and the initial pool installation, making it approx 25 years old. Not many pool companies in my area want to repair anything if they didn't originally install the pool. The one company I got a quote from would ask for $2,500 to cut the concrete deck around the skimmer and do the replacement. I'm just trying to gauge how much time I have left on this skimmer after my repair. Maybe one or two more seasons with NJ winters? Just looking for opinions on this question.

Thanks in advance.

 

[1poolman1]

You can try Plast-Aid. The small kit 80100. May have to drop the water level a bit. Mixed correctly, it is a permanent repair, but won't stop a crack. It won't stop new ones from happening, either.
If you can, drill a 1/16" hole at the very end of each crack, fill it and the crack with Plast-Aid. A thin layer is all it takes. Don't build it up so much the basket can't be pulled out.

 

[sonnaps]

You can try Plast-Aid. The small kit 80100. May have to drop the water level a bit. Mixed correctly, it is a permanent repair, but won't stop a crack. It won't stop new ones from happening, either.
If you can, drill a 1/16" hole at the very end of each crack, fill it and the crack with Plast-Aid. A thin layer is all it takes. Don't build it up so much the basket can't be pulled out.

I saw Plast-Aid mentioned in another post about a broken skimmer. This stuff was just not available with Prime and I wanted to tackle this project this weekend. I ordered it anyway. Hopefully I can wait till next weekend to do it. The Plast-Aid did seem like a better way to go because it chemically bonds to the plastic.

 

[sonnaps]

Just an update for anyone who tries this themselves. The Plast-Aid worked out great. It was pretty easy to work with after all, even on a vertical surface. I ended up using a natural bristle acid bush to get it kind of painted on there at first until it setup a bit, then just smoothed it the best I could with my fingers.

All those other areas that look like cracks seem to be smooth and not cracked all the way through yet. Almost like staining on stressed areas. I decided not to coat all of that as of yet. I want to go through one winter and see what it all ends up looking like next summer.