Ants vs. Vinyl

I have an inground pool with a vinyl liner that I replaced a couple years ago and have now had to remove again because it is constantly getting chewed through by ants, patched, chewed through again, and so on. We tried treating for them before we got our last liner but it didn’t really help and I don’t know what to do.

We could replace it with fiberglass or concrete but both cost a fortune. We’d be happy to keep the vinyl but is there some way to seal underneath it? I’ve read about gorilla pads and armor shield for above ground pools. Can you do something like that for inground? Or will ants always find a way around it?

The subsurface appears to currently be hard packed sand. I’m not sure how deep that goes or what’s underneath it.