Doughboy Pool Disassembly

by Brian
(Newburgh, Indiana)

Hi, I posted to a question that was raised many years ago, but thought I would ask it again directly here.

I'm in the process of dismantling a 21ft above ground Doughboy pool and I cannot remove the slide bar joint that holds the pool wall together. I did see advice that said to shower the joint with WD-40, tap it back and forth to loosen, then grab the joint with a vice grip and hit from underneath with a hammer until it starts to move. I've tried three separate times with no luck.

If it is possible to replace this piece, I'm inclined to take a circular saw with a metal blade, recess it until only 1/8" of the blade is showing and score the front of the joint so I can peel it away from the pool wall ends.

The pic I've attached shows this joint with the upright in place, but I have already removed the upright.

Will this work?

Hi Brian I had to do this once, it does work if nothing else does.

Pool Wall Joint Piece

by Nicki
(Cloquet, MN, USA)

We recently took down a pool that we got from my aunt and uncle. It was up for 20 years at their house. The pool is in good condition.

When it came time to take the steel wall down we couldn't get that metal strip that connects the walls together out. They decided to cut next to the strip with a saws-all. We are trying to figure out how to re-attach the wall together when we put the pool back up. Any suggestions? Can it be fixed?

Thank you

Hi Nicki

Since your problem is with a bar connecter I assume you have a Doughboy brand pool. I am not surprised that it is 20 years old and still in good condition.

As for getting the bar off, there are a couple of options that are better than the one you choose. I have seen people roll the wall up keeping it connected. When re-installing sometimes I remove the bar and roll the wall correctly or sometimes I install it connected. Either way works. It's just so much harder with the wall connected, but still doable.

What I do is spray the bar with WD40. I then attach a large set of vice grips to it and pound the grips with a hammer. I go through several sets of vice grips every summer but I do get the bars off.

Walls can be spliced if you use heavy enough material and plenty of nuts and bolts. A 3' section of old sidewall would work perfect. If you can't find a wall you would be looking for flat stock material at least as thick as the wall.

Once the wall is installed you would put your patch material on the inside of the pool and run several rows of nuts and bolts on both sides of the cut. I have done this many times without any problems.