Ester Williams Pool Dismantling & Reassembly
by DJ
(New York)
A friend of mine wants his 25 year old 15'x 24' Ester Williams pool taken down, he is too ill and elderly to do the job himself so he's hired me to do it for him.
Another neighbor of mine wants the pool for his own yard and is willing to buy it from the owner as it is still in really great (almost like new even for it's age) rust-free shape, and will pay me to reinstall it in his yard once it is dismantled from where it is.
The liner & filter are only about 2 or 3 years old and in like new condition. It was never opened again after the season that the new liner & filter were installed, so it is worth doing condition-wise. I've emptied all the water out, removed the top caps that hold the walls up and together and also keep the liner tracks (J-Channel Tracks?) that are under the caps in place.
I washed the liner, folded and removed it, also rolled up and removed the foam that lined the inside of the walls between the walls and liner.
I have installed and/or removed many pools over the last 20-25 years but I've never seen one quite like this! My trouble is that I do NOT know how to get the shell out of the bottom track and apart! This is NOT the type of cheap aluminum wall pool that you simply lift, roll up and move aside. This looks like it is 165 separate interlocking slats and I have tried just about everything, short of breaking anything, to remove these slats and to no avail. No matter what I've tried none of it will pull up out of the bottom track and none of the 165 sections will come apart, how is this done?
Any old timer's around who've seen one of these style pools? What's the secret to removing the walls? ANY Good help/Advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Hi DJ
I would use plenty of WD40 on the locks of several of the panels. Clean the bottom rail out as best possible and start working the panels back and forth trying to get one to loosen up.
You might also need to pry the lock open slightly on one of the panels, this should help to get it started. Once the first one is out the rest should be easy.
