major water leak around stairs

[Tellavision]

Hello,

This winter, in a matter of 2 days, the water level dropped over 3 feet. It stopped dropping level with the bottom stair and has remained constant for a couple of months. I couldn't find a pool company to come and diagnose and or repair the leak. They are all booked a couple of months in advance.

In my ignorance, I guess that the leak was around the steps in our pool. When I removed the faceplate and flange, I discovered that there was no gasket between the liner and the steps. In addition, it looked like there were many holes not filled in and sealed. I assume that the liner was replaced from the original install.

My question is, "was the liner cut too far away from the steps to be sealed correctly?" I've read online where I can use a product to seal all of the holes and redrill for the flange and install a new gasket.

Any and all advice I'm open to. I bought the house in 2017 and previous owner said that he had a new liner installed. Obviously a poor job.
I'd hate to have that expense this year...

Thanks for your response in advance.

 

[ajw22]

@jimmythegreek @PoolguyinCT may have thoughts on how the liner step interface should be.

 

[jimmythegreek]

You can get a gasket kit and install it but it gets sealed in and its tricky to do. The screws strip out easy and you dont have access to the back of stairs. In addition the liner has to be reset and the existing holea have to be to the edge of the gasket/seal strip so they dont leak. I see the liner is pretty close as it sits so maybe on a warm day you could get it to sit right. If it was me I would replace the liner you can DIY it and get a decent one for 1500ish. I guess it doesn't hurt to try resetting it but even if it does leak it will leak slow