After cutting out the hatches on the stripped deck of my Mill Creek 16.5 and building up a laminated ply spacer and lip for flush mount hatches, I had a real scare. The plywood lam had enough spring to flatten the contour of the rear deck. The rear hatch sat a full 1/8" to deep on each side when the front and rear were flush. After much thought as to what remedy to take, I remembered it mentioned here that heat will soften epoxy. So armed with a hot iron, wet rag and a ratchet strap, I looped the strap around the deck and applied lots of heat and steam to the front and rear of the lip. Then praying the deck wouldn't buckle, I started ratcheting. More heat, another notch and repeat. Soon the deck had slightly more camber than the hatch so I stopped and let it cool. Took of the strap and much to my relief, a perfect contour had returned. The moral? Next time a glass lay-up aka Vaclav.

David