Hi Paul

My Chesapeake had the same problems you are describing. The foam does make up for a lot of the non uniformity of curvature and it may wind up sealing better because the pressure from the straps will be concentrated on a smaller area. My front hatch warped into a twist. I corrected it by putting a small block of wood under the low corner and hanging some weights on the high ones. It worked and based on an eight hour drive on the top of my car in a pouring rain, the front compartment stayed dry, so I guess it worked. The comments on the front hatch deflecting water into your face from waves are right on. If I ever made any kayak with a front hatch it would definately be recessed. I haven't decided how to fix the current problem. Any ideas are welcome. Happy paddling.

Jeff