[Paddlewise] Kevlar spraydecks + advise wanted

I too bought a kevlar reinforced spraydeck to deal with the compression
abuse
associated with sliding boats over one's own deck when performing "T" &
"X"
rescues, and in it's limited use so far, it seems to be holding up as
well as my
Palm non Kevlar reinforced deck.
My Palm all neo. deck, now carved up from the abuse of rescue practice,
got that
way despite sanding the cockpit coaming down baby smooth back when I
bought the
boat.

As a side note, the non Kevlar reinforced Palm Quasar goes to my keyhole
cockpit
Khatsalano, whereas the Kevlar reinforced Mountain Surf ('Lumbar
Deck'(sp.?))
goes to my Anas, therefore different placement of load over coaming
during
rescue work.  The Palm has also seen loads more rescue work over it's 1
1/2
years than the 1/2 year old Mountain Surf - so far.

Now the request for advice.  Though I love the water tight integrity of
my
Mountain Surf deck (I special ordered it extra tight), I've found out
the hard
way that it's a tad too tight around the coaming to put back on on-water
in
freezing weather.  Does anyone have any tricks for relaxing the fit
progressively in small increments?
I haven't contacted Mtn. Surf yet, and my best brainstorm so far is
bending some
copper tubing to the size and shape of the coaming - "L" both ends
downward at
the back,
fit the spraydeck over the coaming and hook up the plumbing to a hot
water
source,
then run progressively warmer water through while expanding the gap
between the
"L"s until progress is made.   Thoughts ???

Note;  I've been relying on a storm cag over top of the drysuit and
spraydeck in
the event of a Reentry & Roll situation.  Would just let the neo.
spraydeck
settle in my lap while reattaching the cag to the coaming, then pump the
boat
out (under 4 minutes w/ Henderson foot pump) and head in.

Vince


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