Swimline Vinyl Pool Liner Patch Kit

Update: this patch worked for two years! At the start of the 3rd summer, our friends were here with their young kids. One of them kindly emerged from underwater in her goggles and handed me a weird plastic rubbery thing that she found stuck to the bottom of the pool. I don’t know if she pulled it off or if it was loose and floating. So, we repeated the processes outlined below. We are hosting our son’s grad party in a month and I have a feeling the patch won’t last the event, so we will likely be patching again, but we are basically experts now. Ok, so when it says you can use this underwater, be thoughtful about where under the water you need to use it. We realized after opening our pool that we had a tear on the floor of the liner. My husband tried to patch it once, doing the swim-down-and-kick-like-hell-and-use-your-foot-to-smooth-it-out method. It stuck, but water was still slowly seeping out. So I gave up and and called Eric the Pool Dr, recommended by my neighbor. Turns out Pool Dr sold his business, but talked me through the process: you have to cut the patch 2-3x the size of the hole, slather it like crazy and fold it over. Then swim down, use something to hold yourself down, and use a plastic putty knife to get all the bubbles out. So, one afternoon we tried again. First we had to pull off the old patch, and it was on there pretty good, so the stuff sticks! We sunk a kettle bell, my husband put on a pair of our kids' crappy goggles, and I prepped the patch while he thought about his strategy and did some recon missions. Our method required me to put pressure on his back/butt, HOLDING HIM DOWN UNDER THE WATER, while he opened the patch and placed it, then grasped the kettle bell with one hand and used the puttly knife to get out all the air bubbles with the other. This process required coming up for breath a few times, each time with me subsequently pushing him back under the water. We have been married for 17 years. This was a true test of the trust in our marriage. It was a little bit terrifying. We appear to no longer be losing water though this ground hole, and nobody drowned. Still, I hope if we have to patch again, we will do so when the pool isn't quite full.

applied it years ago and it is still holding up

This really works well. Our pool has a small 1 and a half inch cut in the liner close to the bottom of the pool. I put this patch on it inside with water in it and it has not leaked at all. That was last Summer.

I used this patch kit yesterday. It works as it should. The instructions are clear. Follow the instructions carefully in every step and be mindful of the process. Trim patch corners, apply completely and sparingly to patch material, wait 24 hours for complete bond. I used this product in dry conditions.

They do work, and are forgiving. However, it's a complete mess as the glue dissolves the patch and the patch will stick to itself and it's just difficult. However, if the whole patch doesn't go down, you can just dab a bit of glue in the missed spot later. And if you have a wrinkle, it doesn't seem to matter. Make a big globby mess of it and it still seems to get the job done, even if it isn't pretty.