Andy, if you think that was long winded, let me show you long winded

First let me apologize for the delay in answering - my dog had to go the the emergency vet on Sunday (she had had minor surgery last week and somehow managed to rip out her stitches) she was drugged up when we brought her home and was a risk to herself, so I was up almost all night keeping an eye on her, so only got a couple hours sleep. Still had to work a full 10 hours yesterday, so I was in no shape to answer last night.

OK, back to your pool-

If the gaskets that go behind the liner are still good, you wouldn't need new ones, if the liner is less than ~5 years old, they are probably still good. However, if any of them show signs of tearing or 'just don't look right' I'd recommend replacing them (better a few $ now than end up with a leak and have to partially drain the pool to replace those gaskets - if nothing else, the amount of work to replace the behind the liner gaskets covers the cost of new ones - on this line of thought - even if they look 'brand new' replace the MD and light gaskets - the skimmers require much less water removal and work to replace)

If you can't get vermiculite (pool grade) just use the sand you have. (the ratio is ~ 2 parts type I or II cement to 1 part sand or vermiculite [the ratio is by WEIGHT not volume!]) Watch the amount of water you use, more water makes it easier to mix, but it takes much longer to set up - also a 'slightly wetter' mix allows you to feather in the patches better (off the cuff - I'd say ~ 2X the weight in water as the cement -- water weighs ~ 7.8 lbs / gallon). To keep this from going waaayy too far into detail, just ask me if you've any questions about mixing methods - there's different methods and tools I use, depending on whether I'm using a powered mixer, a wheelbarrow, a 5 gal. bucket.

Unless you've dropped a bunch of liners, I doubt it could be done in under 2 1/2 hours, you are also doing this at the end of the day when the liner has the least amount of stretch (to clarify - the sun's rays aren't as strong and night will soon remove any extra 'plyibility') However, there is nothing wrong with doing the floor work one evening. The next evening you can sweep the floor 3X (!!) (you DO NOT WANT anything other than the floor under the liner!) -- something as small as a grain of sand can be felt if stepped on, will probably show up at night with the pool light on and WILL provide the first most probable place that the liner will fail -- also make sure that the walls are 'debris free' ! On that same evening have 3 other people help you 'rough drop' the liner, 1 person to hold each corner - the 2 in the deep end will only have to hold on to their part as the other 2 pull the liner across the pool. Position the box as they direct, and unpackage the liner on the centerline of the pool -- unroll it and unfold it -- it's 'fan folded'. As this will only be a 'rough set' - no vac's required - you don't have to be 'dead on' with how the corners fit. All you are trying to do on this is get the liner close to where it needs to be and tuck it into the track, this will allow the liner to relax a bit from being boxed and keep debris from getting under the liner onto your clean floor. Most liners have marks on the back of the liner to show the corners and the transition break (where the floor from the shallow end transitions to the slope for the deep end) - the marks are close, but not exact, so don't worry if they don't perfectly match up. It will probably turn out that there is a section that you can't get fully in - try to keep this in the shallow end - you'll want to see if anything did go behind the liner and it's SOOO much easier to check the shallow end!

What we always do with the old liner is toss it in the dumpster -- some people want sections of it for covering a woodpile - but most of it goes into the landfill

You probably noticed that I've left out the parts about getting the liner in 'perfectly and doing the cutting _ I'll leave that for tomorrow, especially since I don't know what kind of stairs you have (the fiberglass stairs are easier to do, but if you have steel stairs, I can help you do them correctly too) I think you're looking at starting the water on Saturday or Sunday. How will you be filling the pool (and have you tested the fill water to see whet chems you may need for an immediate start-up?

I hope that this is enough to get you started! A couple more Q&A by Friday should get you all set to have the liner in by the end of this weekend