Retrofit vinyl liner to hybrid concrete/fiberglass pool.

[Lerronious]

I hope to get advice concerning my retrofit. I have a 16'x60' pool with a concrete basin and fiberglass sides built in 1976. The basin is hand troweled and has been painted with epoxy at least twice. The fiberglass panelized sides sit on top of this basin which resembles a safety edge that is continuous around the entire perimeter. A cantilevered concrete deck secures the top of the fiberglass sides. After pricing the preparation/primer/paint option, I'm considering a vinyl liner. Instead of replacing the coping, I'd use a mechanically attached aluminum receiver at the top of the panels to catch the liner bead. Having not done this before, I was curious as to how forgiving the liner is with regard to the geometry of the pool. The previous paint lasted an impressive 12 years so I don't want make thing more difficult with this transition to vinyl.

All of the transitions in the concrete basin are ~6" diameter.
The fiberglass panels have 4" diameter corner.
The fiberglass panels meet the concrete at a sharp right angle.
Substantial "wave" along the length of the panelized sides.

Shared album - Lee Williams - Google Photos

 

[Catanzaro]

If this was my pool, I would not add a vinyl liner. Even if you can find a company to do this, I can only imagine the cost would be high. In addition, if looks like you have some damage on one of the fiberglass walls. I would continue to do the same as before.

Question: Have you priced out vinyl liner?
Question: What is the cost of preparation-primer-paint?

Thanks!

 

[Lerronious]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Talking to Kelley Technical coatings (Olympic), they suggested to scrape any lose/chipping areas, activate/etch with their phosphoric acid-based cleaner, prime with Gunzite, then finish with Zeron top coat. The primer/paint alone about $2750 if I paint the sides. Add another 18-20 tubes of Permaseal 950 caulk at $25 each, I'm up to $3250. Hopefully, I can escape this project at $3500 complete but who knows.
Driven by the price tag and a general disdain for painted pools on this forum, I looked at vinyl as an alternative. The appropriately sized 20 mil vinyl liner was quoted at $1750 with an additional $525 for the bead receiver, so $2275. Saving $1000 and the reduced labor is part of the equation, though I'm not sure what I'm really getting into with regard to installation. I'm sure I can scrape and paint and am relatively confident I can attach the bead receiver and fit the liner. My hesitation is not knowing how accurate the measurements need to be to account for the variation in depth along the safety edge and the hand-built nature of the bottom section as a whole. In essence, how "stretchy" is the liner to make up for odd geometry?
Either way, paint or vinyl, I'd perform the work myself with the help of friends/family.

 

[borjis]

Have you considered Aquabrite finish? It would likely cost more, but could last a potential lifetime.

There are threads where it was discussed they could apply it to a setup like yours.

I have a vinyl lined fully concrete pool (it was built for a liner) but considering converting
it to an Aquabrite finish next time the liner needs replacing.

 

[Catanzaro]

The liner seems the way to go. Did you measure or had someone come out for measurements? And is there a damaged wall, that is caved in? If so, then the liner will follow the pattern.

 

[Lerronious]

The Aquabrite looks interesting. With the size of our pool, I'm typically priced out pretty quickly for these solutions. Regardless, I submitted a request for info. Thanks for the suggestion.

I did measure the pool as accurately as possible, there's just a lot of variation in the geometry. The "safety ledge"-to-water line depth varies by 4" over the perimeter of the pool for instance. I added the measured diagrams to the shared "Google Photos" link above. Our two local pool supply places aren't interested in even taking a look. There's a National Pools in Roanoke about 45 minutes drive and am waiting on a call back.

The fiberglass wall are crooked as a cafeteria fork when looking down both long edges, but there hasn't been any noticeable movement in the for the past 13 years so I assume it's stable by now, that, or it was installed that way. Somewhere in the maintenance history, the plumbing on the high pressure side of the pump was replaced as seen in the "keyed" and deflected concrete deck. My opinion on this is that is was just a cheap, nonprofessional initial installation, kind of like the house. It's mine now though, so trying to make the best of it.

 

[borjis]

I did measure the pool as accurately as possible, there's just a lot of variation in the geometry. The "safety ledge"-to-water line depth varies by 4" over the perimeter of the pool for instance. I added the measured diagrams to the shared "Google Photos" link above. Our two local pool supply places aren't interested in even taking a look. There's a National Pools in Roanoke about 45 minutes drive and am waiting on a call back.

It's crazy, when The pool co could not find any serial number on my very old (23 year old) liner that had to be replaced,
a rep did show up to measure it with tracking markers and a special camera, but initially the vinyl liner mfg (won't name who)
said they didn't want to bother making mine. The pool co I deal with thankfully told them somehow they
had to do it or else.

boggles the mind.

Hope that other company helps you.

 

[swimcmp]

You will have to change the return fittings in the wall as they are not for a vinyl liner. You will also have to either do away with the main drain or figure out how to seal the vinyl to it. Same with the skimmer.

 

[Lerronious]

I think I'm just going to strip, prime, and paint it at $3500. National Pools will strip and plaster it for ~$10K. The AquaBrite finish look s great but I'm out side of any installer's service area and the regardless, it'd be close to $17,500. The more I think about vinyl, the more I dislike it. The question I need to answer now is should I prep and paint the fiberglass sides and is it advantageous to completely strip the painted concrete vs activation with an acid-based etchant.