> 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.

I just went through this exercise last weekend, when I put the deck on my CLC Chesapeake 17 LT. I did the whole thing by myself, and had pretty good luck. The trick is to use nylon webbing with ratchet clamps as well as rope ties (I had two nylon webbing type clamps--1 from a U-haul store for tying down loads, with a lever ratchet, and another clamp used for picture frames, with a hex bolt tightened by a wrench). Using the considerable leverage of these clamps, it is easy to pull the forward deck tightly around the deckbeam and the bulkhead. Use cotton rope about every 18 inches for the rest of the length, and you can pull everything down nice and tight. I used the ring nails to attach the deck.

As mentioned by others, it is useful to 'pivot' the front deck at the cockpit deckbeam. By this I mean test fit the deck, clamp it down in a few places, and then drill a 1/16 inch hole into the deck at the deckbeam, in a location that will later be covered by the coaming. Then drill partway into the deckbeam. The 'pivot' is a very small brad that will be driven partway into the deckbeam. So once the top is slathered with thickened epoxy, it is very easy to line things up quickly, clamp, and then nail.

Leave all of that extra overhang--it is not a problem and is easily cut off after the glue dries.

A tip for the nailing guage--make the width of the gap much wider than it appears in the CLC shop notes--this is needed in order make good contact with the side of the boat at the center, where the deck comes down at a steep angle.

Second tip: to draw a line on the top of the deck when it comes time to use the saber saw to remove the excess, use the nailing jig-- clamp a pencil to the top, (recessed by about 1/8 inch) and then just drag it around the entire perimeter to mark.

Good luck,Ed