An answer for potty skimmers?

Mike Hammon of the Great Lakes Pool Service in Forster, NSW, has come across a couple of potty skimmers on his rounds: one had already been repaired, with the cover plastic-welded in place. A second one, however, had not been repaired and represented a danger to children.

 

Here is what he did to repair it:
1. Measured up the opening in the pool shell.
2. Found a deck lid (in this case a Hydro Baker one the owner already had).
3. Took the measurements and the deck lid to a local metal fabricator.
4. An aluminium checker plate was made with a hole to perfectly fit the deck lid, with four countersunk screw holes.
5. Ground the edges and round off the corners of the metal to make them smooth and safe.
6. He then drilled four matching holes into the shell, filled with these holes with plugs and securely affixed the metal plate to the shell using 10gauge stainless steel screws.
7. Put the existing leaf basket back in and fitted the deck lid to the opening.

8. The skimmer box was now safe. Because he told the fabricator the job was urgent, the plate was made within a day; and the whole job, including materials and his time going back and forth to the metal fabricator, cost $250.

However, the owner resented having to pay anything to fix the skimmer and only because Hammon stuck to his guns did it get repaired. He told the owner that if he didn’t repair it he would have to formally write a letter to the owner and the council letting them know about the safety issue.