Thanks for the response Ted. The hole is about 2 in. x 1 in.. In a panic as the water was dropping at a rate of about 1inch per hour, even with water being consistently added via water hose, we devised a makeshift patch out of a raincoat. The section we use is about 12 in. x 12 in. This held overnight (this was two nights ago) and bought enough time to contact a couple of the area pool companies. Of course, the only suggestions were to re-liner or patch.

Around 2pm yesterday, the hubs made his hourly check on the water level and noticed it was once again dropping aggressively. He dove in to inspect and found that the 12 x 12 patch (adhesive was NOT used) was now sucked into the opening to at least 2 inches. From my understanding of his description, it sounds like the actions would be the same if placing the 12 x12 patch horizontally on a 1 in circumference vacuum hose. He carefully check with his finger and was unable to tell exactly how far inward the hole goes, but was able to (with his index finger) feel the backside of the raincoat patch.

Your suggestions to patch, then add sand and patch over that, is the most promising of anything we have thought of at the moment. I'm curious if we would be better off to leave the heavy gauge raincoat patch, trimming down the excess and attempting to add adhesive to the edges, then adding sand, and finally adding the final outer patch?

**Additional info that may or may not be pertinent to the issue. Our choice would be to just go ahead and reline the pool. It is 15 yrs old now. However, our pool liner situation is rather unique from what we are told. Fifteen years ago when we had our (only one within 40 miles) local pool company install the pool, they hit what they referred to as a spring, about 5 ft down. In order to complete the construction, the "spring" was diverted via a pool pump using a backwash hose to a ditch, about 150 ft from pool (dug out years ago by neighbors, as an outlet for excess rainwater). I recall the water pumping strong (the strength of a good backwash) for 3 days until the liner was installed. At that point the pool fellas returned the hose to the pool and our pool was completely filled from this water source. Once the pool was filled (16 x 36), the pool guys capped off the Spring pipe (stands vertically alongside the pool pump, which is housed in a covered shed next to pool).

Please forgive me if I'm giving too much info that is unnecessary, but I'm really oblivious to the ins and outs of pool maintenance and the hubs is best known for not providing enough info.

*Other details which may or may not affect current issue. Two years after the pool was installed, we began noticing slight shifts beneath the deep end liner. Apparently, this was due to the vermiculite shifting beneath liner. Hubs contacted pool company and was told that the slippage was due to the Spring and was not covered under warranty. We battled them like crazy over the issue, but they would never do anything about it, which in retrospect, we shouldn't have taken their word for it that it was the Spring (which it very well may have been).

As you can imagine, the slippage has become worse every year, now leaving the appearance of a vinyl version of the Grand Canyon. I'm really quite shocked that we only have this one leak. I will attempt to post photos today to show just how extreme it is.

Anyway....back to the issue...what has kept us from relining the pool from the beginning is that we were told by the separate local pool company, that because of the Spring, the cost to re-line the pool will be about double of the average re-lining costs...around $7000!!! Ugh!! Now, the cost is extreme, but what we fear the most is, if the slippage (not necessarily related to the leak) was caused by the Spring, that this will inevitably reoccur.

Okie doke, I believe I've included everything but the kitchen sink, lol. Again, please forgive me if I've provided way too much info. Thank you so much in advance for your willingness to help and your suggestions.

cjane68