I've just finished planing the sheer clamps on my Chesapeake 17. I laid the fore deck piece on top of the hull to just sort of test fit things. I was very surprised at the level of effort required to bend that sucker around the deckbeams & bulkheads such that it is flush with the sheer clamps.

Is this the experience of other CLC builders? It seems hard to believe that those ring nails are going to hold it.

I read an earlier series of posts about the deck not staying flush with the sheer clamps and there being a small gap that had to be epoxy filled later. Would it help to trim the deck closer to it's final dimensions before installation? I'm working with a kit and the deck seems to be a couple inches oversize on each side.

As always, thanks for your answers, Roger