: Long story short, my friend passed away unexpectedly in the middle
: of building a wood strip kayak, and I decided to finish the boat
: for his girlfriend to keep, and also because he'd hate it if all
: his work went unfinished. A fiberglassing contractor I know has
: agreed to help with that part, so mostly I'm just doing the
: woodworking. It's coming along pretty well, but I'm having some
: problems with warping-- I live in Georgia, and the humidity is
: killer. When I got the boat, the deck and hull pretty much
: constructed, and had been separated from the form. I've been
: planing down and shaping the deck so it will sit just inside the
: hull (as the fiberglasser requested) but am now finding that as
: the hull as sat separated from the form, it how opened up a bit.
: So my plan is to get the deck all shaped, and then bend the hull
: back so it fits snugly around it, but I'm wondering what the
: best way to do this is, without risking it cracking along the
: strip seams? Obviously I can't build a steam box for the whole
: hull, so I'm wondering if getting it wet and heating it with a
: hair drying, or steaming it with a hand steamer would be enough?
: I'm sure I'll have lots more questions as I move forward with the
: project, and I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

: Thanks!

My first boat also became deformed. I removed it from the forms after glassing but added a coat of epoxy without placing it back on the forms that would maintain the proper shape. It contracted and I had a great desk of trouble getting it to expand to match up with the deck. It took plain old force and it did crack in places I made sure to get epoxy into the cracks when doing the inside and took care while filling the outside. Bottom line, you wik be able to recover the shape by going back to the forms and during glassing.
Good for you!
Robert