Used Doughboy Pool Questions

I purchased a 1 yr. old used Doughboy 18ft. Sand Dollar 2 pool. Doughboy has told me that I cannot reuse the current liner, due to it shrinking back to its original size & I will never get the skimmer hole in the liner lined back with the hole in side wall?

They also told me I could not patch the skimmer hole & cut a new one in. I was wondering your opinion on this.

One other question, is it possible to repaint the side supports & top rail? If so, what type of paint? The original owner did not take the best of care with them after taking pool down.

What is your opinion on the dual frog chemical system?

Thanks for any help.

Hi.

While in most cases I feel buying a new liner is the best option, a one year old Doughboy liner might be an exception. Normally after two, sometimes three, years they are not usable for the reasons Doughboy gave you. But after only a year the liner should still have all of its elasticity, and should stretch back out without a problem.

There was a time when I would glue a patch over the skimmer and return holes and reuse old liners. I've done this many times and it does work just fine. My method is to use a piece of actual vinyl and cut it about three inches bigger than the opening. I use Boxer vinyl patch glue and spread it on the liner. I place the patch material over the liner and then weight it down for overnight. Using this method will allow you to stretch the liner into place, my preferred method of installing above ground pool liners. Be sure to apply the patch to the back side of the liner. The water pressure, when the pool is full, helps to hold it in place.

Your other option is to get in the pool with the liner and line up the old holes, and yes, this method works fine also. After the wall is installed I usually tape the wall stabilizer rods in place to hold the wall up, this keeps it from falling over or blowing over. On a very calm day you may get by without them.

Once the wall is up I

spread and smooth the sand. I then have someone hand me the pre-rolled liner. We open the liner up on grass, give it plenty of sunshine, then just before the wall goes up we roll it up. One person grabs the liner at the skimmer location, another person opposite him. The liner gets pulled and then folded back into itself so it looks like a long cigar. You then start at the end opposite the skimmer and roll it up.

That roll is then handed to me, inside the pool and standing at the skimmer location. I lower the liner, unroll it to the other side and open it up.

I start at the skimmer and attach it, then the return. With someone holding the wall up at that location, so that I don't pull it down, I set the bottom of the liner, under the skimmer, up against the cove. I then go to the opposite side and pull the liner over the wall. With the bottom pulled flat, if I have enough liner to pull over the wall, the liner will fit. If there is not enough liner to pull over the wall, the liner has shrunk too much to try and reuse. If the liner is usable go back to the skimmer area and loosely pull the liner over the wall and cloths pin it in place, all the way around. Get the liner as straight as you can, and the bottom as smooth as you can, and start adding water. Smooth the bottom until the water is at the edge of the pool cove. You can now start pinning the liner in place where it needs to be so that the sides are straight and smooth. As you are pinning the liner your helpers can be installing the coping and building the rest of the pool.

The best paint job I ever saw was the guy that took his pool parts to his buddy that ran an auto paint shop. They were sand blasted and painted just like a car would be. For most people I'm sure a good enamel spray paint would be just fine.

I do not like any kind of automatic chlorinators for vinyl lined pools. The results of high quantities of chlorine around the return area have ruined a lot of liners way before their time. I prefer the floating chlorinator.