Patching a big hole in a above ground pool.

Danger_Ranger

Danger_Ranger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Location
Star NC
So I have 2 big holes to patch in my above ground pool. About a 18" diameter hole where I cut the leaking windows out. I glued some pool cover material over the holes and it lasted maybe 2 weeks. The material was a lot thinner than the pool vinyl and it bulged way out when we filled it with water and finally gave way. So now I'm thinking of gluing a piece of linoleum flooring over the holes on the inside of the pool. Good idea or bad idea? I'm open to suggestions.

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Bond a piece of sheet steel or aluminum to fill where the hole in the side is, and then patch the liner. That should work fine if the side of the pool is powdercoated, baked paint, Kynar, etc., so you have good bond strength between the paint finish and the steel, because you'll be bonding to the paint finish. Unless it's something hard to bond to. I really like adhesives, so that's my preferred method. 2-Part structural adhesives for auto body repair will work great, and are fairly cheap.

Or patch it with sheet steel or aluminum and pop-rivet it from the inside (smoother rivet head), if you can access the area between the liner an the the structural side of the pool. Should be no problem if you have an 18 inch hole in the liner, because the steel patch can go on the outside or inside, so you just need to pull the liner back at the hole enough to pop rivet all around. Cheaper than adhesives, requires drilling a lot of holes.

Either way, you need something to reinforce the bigass hole, and then patch up the liner.

My mom tore down their above ground pool a few years ago, and it was there when they bought the house in '92. I've patched that pool, replaced the liner, done all those bullshit things I never wanted to do again.



Are we talking about a traditional above ground pool, with steel or aluminum sides and a vinyl liner, and an 18 inch diameter hole in the steel side?
 
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Fabrik8 said:
Bond a piece of sheet steel or aluminum to fill where the hole in the side is, and then patch the liner. That should work fine if the side of the pool is powdercoated, baked paint, Kynar, etc., so you have good bond strength between the paint finish and the steel, because you'll be bonding to the paint finish. Unless it's something hard to bond to. I really like adhesives, so that's my preferred method. 2-Part structural adhesives for auto body repair will work great, and are fairly cheap.

Or patch it with sheet steel or aluminum and pop-rivet it from the inside (smoother rivet head), if you can access the area between the liner an the the structural side of the pool. Should be no problem if you have an 18 inch hole in the liner, because the steel patch can go on the outside or inside, so you just need to pull the liner back at the hole enough to pop rivet all around. Cheaper than adhesives, requires drilling a lot of holes.

Either way, you need something to reinforce the bigass hole, and then patch up the liner.

My mom tore down their above ground pool a few years ago, and it was there when they bought the house in '92. I've patched that pool, replaced the liner, done all those bullshit things I never wanted to do again.



Are we talking about a traditional above ground pool, with steel or aluminum sides and a vinyl liner, and an 18 inch diameter hole in the steel side?
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Well this one is a Coleman vinyl pool from Walmart. It came with windows in it, and naturally they started to leak within a few weeks last year. The glue we been using is a glue specific for vinyl. Smells just like pvc glue to me but it's supposed to be more flexible. I just ordered a 32oz can from Amazon.

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Even had gorrila tape on the outside of it and it still busted out lol. I think I just need a thicker material, but I don't know what that would be. I'm thinking the piece of linoleum will work. I hope so, because I can get it for free.
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Just seeing this...but my folks have those blue Intex pools and have had one for like 15 years. One of my spring chores was always dumping it, cleaning it and patching it...and actually kept doing it as my parents have gotten older. I'd track down someone else's pool that sprung a leak...usually on the side of the road waiting for the garbage man, then I'd make my own patches. Cut out what I'd need, patch on the inside and outside, adhesive of your choice and go from there. Could usually get an extra 2-3 years out of a pool...now I'll just buy them a new one.
 
drkelly said:
I've heard that they are hard to find because everyone is buying one due to Covid.
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Im sure...generally get them about the time it starts warming up, this year was no exception...and bought a new one some time around the two week shut down began.
 
UTfball68 said:
Just seeing this...but my folks have those blue Intex pools and have had one for like 15 years. One of my spring chores was always dumping it, cleaning it and patching it...and actually kept doing it as my parents have gotten older. I'd track down someone else's pool that sprung a leak...usually on the side of the road waiting for the garbage man, then I'd make my own patches. Cut out what I'd need, patch on the inside and outside, adhesive of your choice and go from there. Could usually get an extra 2-3 years out of a pool...now I'll just buy them a new one.
Click to expand...
Finding an old pool somebody was gonna throw away was my original plan. Some sketchy people that live at the end of our street has one just like ours just laying in their yard. We've stopped several times and knocked on the door to offer them some cash for it, or just get it out of their yard. They won't come to the door, and I know the fuckers are at home. We was gonna just buy a new one, but the only ones we could find are just like the one we have lol. Coleman should offer a full refund to anyone who bought one of these shitty pools.

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