Johnny Weissmuller Wall and Liner Repair

I shot a rock through my aluminum wall Johnny Weissmuller pool yesterday. It tore through the aluminum and the pool liner.

1/2 the people I talk to say buy a new pool as a patch of the wall won't last, 1/2 say I can patch the wall of this one and replace liner.

Need an expert opinion as to whether or not this can be patched and if so how and how long will it last?




Hi. If it were my pool I would patch the wall and the liner. If these repairs were properly done they would not affect the life of the pool in any way.

Vinyl liners will shrink when completely emptied so I would let the water out to just below the hole. If you can keep at least six inches of water in the pool there is no reason you couldn't patch the liner and refill it.

With the pool drained down to just below the hole I would pull the liner back just enough so that I could get behind it to work on the wall. I would flatten the wall with a hammer and piece of lumber. I would then duct tape a large piece of flat aluminum over the hole. The larger the patch the better but normally an eighteen inch square would be fine. Use plenty of tape so that it is secure to the wall and any sharp edges are well covered. If the hole is near the bottom of the pool it is also helpful to pull the liner back far enough so that you can insert the patch into the bottom rail of the pool. This may not be possible, but if it is it's a good thing to do.

The liner should be patched from the backside with a Boxer patch kit. By patching the backside the patch will be between the liner and the sidewall. When the pool fills up and the water pushes against the liner the patch is firmly held in place and will never come loose. It becomes very permanent. It is also possible, but not usually necessary, to put a patch on the inside of the pool also. This would amount to a double patch job for added protection. It also covers the jagged edges of the liner tear.

When patching vinyl I prefer to use actual liner, as opposed to the vinyl that comes in patch kits. Some pool stores sell small sections of vinyl liner and I recently heard there was a place on Ebay selling them.