Large hole patch-repair

CFPoolguy · May 15, 2018

Last year I bought a house with an above ground pool. Near the ens of the season I noticed a small leak in my pool liner and found that it was coming from around my skimmer. It was the end of the season, so I waited until spring to address it.

I took the skimmer off and saw there was a really bad patch job that was failing. Took the patch off and this is what I found. I can’t seem to find a patch kit large enough to cover this. I could use any suggestions or ideas of where to start to patch this. Thanks.

btw- my skimmer only has one gasket which covers the inside wall of the pool- is that normal? I would have expected a gasket on both sides.

Casey · May 15, 2018

If this is an overlap liner, you may be able to salvage some liner from the outside of the pool overlap and attempt to patch it. If it fails, you may want to replace the whole liner.

CFPoolguy · May 16, 2018

I’ll check if it’s an overlap or not

CFPoolguy · May 17, 2018

Sure enough- it’s an overlap. Looks like someone before me had the same idea. I have some of the vinyl adhesive glue from a repair kit (the mind for smaller holes). Will that be sufficient or should I get something else?

Casey · May 17, 2018

It should work.

wbrober0 · May 18, 2018

Hi CFPoolguy,

Take a look at this thread. I had to do this myself a couple of years ago and posted this. You can read the whole thing by my post starts at #5.

Liner around skimmer

Hope it helps,
Bill

CFPoolguy · May 21, 2018

wbrober0 said:
Hi CFPoolguy,

Take a look at this thread. I had to do this myself a couple of years ago and posted this. You can read the whole thing by my post starts at #5.

Liner around skimmer

Hope it helps,
Bill

That was exactly what I needed. Thank you. One more question. Is there a favorite adhesive to use with a big job like this? What did you use? I've seen a couple references to a #700 Boxer Vinyl Adhesive, but I'm curious how that's different from anything else (like the stuff that comes with the small patch repair kits) and/or if anyone has experience with comparing the Boxer stuff to anything else. Thanks!

wbrober0 · May 21, 2018

My pool store had the small kits but they also had the big piece of vinyl about 24 in square. Near the vinyl they also had large cans of the patch adhesive. The can was about the size of a can of PVC pipe cement about 4 in high by 2-1/2 in in diameter. I used about half the can on the big patch I made. You have to work fast because the glue starts to set up. I just about made it on my pacth which was about 12 x 12 as I recall. I inspected the patch again last year when I had to replace the skimmer and it had started to degrade around the edges. I re-glued it so we'll see what happens this year. I did not open my pool yet. Too chilly and a lot of rain so far. Getting warmer now.

I just did an internet search on #700 Boxer Vinyl Adhesive and the pictures look like the can I bought. I think mine only cost $8.00 at my pool store though.