Floating Liner - Remove liner from track

[AngusMcgregor]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue figuring out how to remove a small section of my liner from my track/coping, tbh I'm not even sure what it is. There is a dearth of videos or how tos on it - most are putting it back in and I can't seem to figure out how to get it out. I have a fair amount of water under my liner that I'd like to pump out.

Attached are a couple pictures of the the liner track. It appears to be back mounted with teeth that lock the liner in place. I've tried prying the track forward and working the liner down from the small gap but I've had no success thus far. I'm not sure if there's something I'm missing or if I just need to keep at it.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hello Angus, welcome to TFP

I'm going to ask a liner guy for some input here- paging @jimmythegreek

 

[jimmythegreek]

I cant tell from pics. Take a few zoomed out fron farther back. The ones you posted look like a hybrid pool top. If that's the case the liner is wall mounted below that lip

 

[AngusMcgregor]

Hey Jimmy, hey Yippee, thank you for the response.

Please see the following, hope this helps.

The track/coping is fairly long pieces. It looks to be poured into the concrete. I dont see any screws or mounting hardware for it. It's about 4 inches in height. The last picture is where my stairs meet the pool and the liner and track stop. The back side of the track has teeth that grab the liner. Pardon my bad diagram but that's what the coping appears to look like to me but I could be wrong.

TIA,

Angus

 

[AngusMcgregor]

Hey Jimmy,

Adding a few more pics in hopes this helps. I have a bad feelings this is very old school, no longer done and thus a huge pain. The coping is the same shape I drew. It looks like it might slide onto a piece of coping or something below, snug against the concrete deck and with the teeth grabbing the liner bead. Could that be possible that they slid it on from the stairs all the way around? The pieces are at least 10-15 feet in length. You can see the liner in the gap between the two coping pieces with concrete behind. The first pic shows the gap from the top view and you can see there's something other than concrete in the bull nose (?) portion.




@jimmythegreek

 

[AngusMcgregor]

Hi all,

My liner is floating but I have a very old school coping track it seems where the liner is mounted behind the coping against the wall and held in place by teeth. I cant seem to work the liner out from the coping. The liner and coping are old and thus possibly brittle. So I feel like I'm stuck. With the liner floating keeping the pool clean is a herculean task.

My only other thought on trying to tackle this is to access behind the liner by removing the face plate to the skimmer and freeing the liner there. I would need to pump the water level completely below the skimmer line but that should allow me to get access in behind the liner, I think. Is this feasible? Is it a stupid idea that will create a can of worms for me?

If not, is there any other way I might be able to drain in behind the liner? TIA

 

[ajw22]

Post pics of your coping and liner track and area where it is floating for us to see your situation.

@jimmythegreek may then have ideas.

 

[AngusMcgregor]

Hey Allen,

I posted a couple days ago about the liner track. The post is linked below. I'm not sure if jimmy saw my updates or not but I thought I'd try to explore other options. I want to avoid replacing the liner this year especially since I'm told I'm unlikely to even be able to do so this year since there's a shortage.I'm not sure how well you can tell from the pic but the liner is bulging at the sides and humped at the bottom, hence all the Crud in the bottom. It's very hard to vacuum because the vacuum head wont slide.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Link to other post with pics of the coping track.

Cheers, TIA, Angus

Other post

 

[jimmythegreek]

I've never seen such a coping. I'd have to be there to figure it out. One thing I see is the bottom face has an upward lip. Os it possible that is 2 pieces amd your not seeing the joint under the bullnose? The bottom may pop free amd the coping bullnose stays. It would pop out from the top. The way your prying it wouldnt work. If the liner is very old you may damage it removing from track. They get brittle amd water weight will suck it down. Be careful

 

[AngusMcgregor]

Hey Jimmy,

Thank you so much for the response. My understanding from the pool company who was maintaining the pool for the previous owner - i moved in 6 years ago - is that this is the original liner and that the pool around 40 years old. They told me to do everything i can to avoid messing up the liner because I'll never be able to replace it with something as long lasting or as thick.

The coping is single piece very much like my drawing. I can post a pic if you like but suffice to say it isn't two pieces. The concrete deck seems to have been poured into this coping and so is flush and tight but not adhered. There appears to be another piece of bullnose coping underneath the coping but it is only round. I'm guessing it was slid into place with the liner held in place. If that's the case I definitely wont be trying to reverse that and you're correct I'm never going to get it out by prying from below. The coping is too rigid.

So that leaves me trying to go behind the skimmer face plate. What are your thoughts about that and please be fully candid if you think it's a boneheaded idea.

attached are two pics of my skimmer. It's quite close to the coping so I'm thinking given the lack of pliability of the liner and the fact that it's held in tight by the coping at the top with minimal distance I might be able to remove the face plate, put a few screws back in place temporarily to keep the liner in place and then put a garden hose attached to a pump to suck the water from behind the liner.

Thoughts. Thank in advance, very much appreciate

@jimmythegreek

 

[jimmythegreek]

If that liner is that old dont even think about moving it. I guarantee it will be damaged. When I've pulled out those older liners they shatter like glass. The water is the only thing keeping the face wet and together, the backside is brittle

 

[duckcmmndr]

I don't see anyway to get that off without tearing it all to pieces. What a strange design. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it almost looks like the top edge of the liner does not really sit in a track and is just pushed up behind the flat coping. You need a new liner and the only way I see replacing it is to saw cut a border in the concrete deck all the way around the pool, tear out concrete and old coping and install proper coping and re-pour up to the new coping.