That second photo is a really nice illustration. The point that I'm trying to make is that when you free everything up, the strips on the left side are longer than the strips on the right side. That's why the pretty part of the bow curves to the right. To fix the problem it's not simply a matter of cutting it down the middle and moving everything over, you need to make the strips the same length on both sides. The easiest way to do this is probably to shorten the strips on the left so that they're the same length by cutting a triangle shape when viewed dead-on from the bow. The wider part of the triangle would be at the top, the distance it's off from the centerline plus half the width of the stem, and it would go straight down from there, and be joined by the cut make along the stem. You'll need to probably add a bigger external stem than you were thinking, but that's better than looking at a crooked bow the entire time you're paddling. When you get it fixed up and strip the deck you'll (well, and we here on the forum if you used your real name...) be the only ones who ever knew it happened.

m