Get yourself a decent quality heat-gun. By far and away the best tool I've bought for kayak building yet.

I was experimenting with mine (just for the sake of science), and can readily bend a dry piece of 5mm x 17mm cedar strip around a coffee mug and have it stay the same shape once it cools. That's much tighter than will ever be required in my kayak. I also tried twisting the strip, and can get a 180 degree twist inside 6 inches (apologies for mixing units!)

I seem to get the best results with the heat-gun set just fractionally cooler than where it will toast the wood.