Sorry to hear about the dog. I hope she comes through okay.

My stairs are fiberglass (glad to hear they will be easier!). I was able to get some pool-krete yesterday, and spent the whole day today patching. There was quite a bit that needed to be done, especially in the shallow end. The floor at the base of the stairs seemed to be loose vermiculite with little or no cement bonding it together. This is also where I had to patch the old liner on two different occasions (not sure if one caused the other). It was also like that around the edges of the shallow end. Makes me wonder if the PB got to the end of a batch in the mixer and used some dry pool-krete and water to finish out instead of mixing a full batch (he cut corners elsewhere, too). Very frustrating because I'm not used to working with the stuff, and was mixing small batches in a 5-gallon bucket. How long should I let the pool-krete cure before dropping the liner? I was thinking tomorrow after work I could hit any rough spots and maybe sweep/vacuum, and place bottom gaskets on skimmer, drain, and light. Don't know if I'll get to the rough drop before Thursday evening, but the forecasters are not showing any rain before Friday or Saturday, so I think I'm okay.

When placing the liner on the center line to unfold, is it okay to place the box on the diving board? Or do I need to remove the board while installing the liner? Where should I place the stronger helpers - holding at the deep end, or pulling to the shallow?

Am I over-analyzing this stuff? (It's something I tend to do!)

Our fill water is about 7.2 pH so I'm ready with my borax and will probably need some baking soda. I have some CYA and bleach on hand.