: I'm about to stitch the bottom of my Chesapeake 16 to the side panels. It
: seems like I will need to force quite a bit to get it to come together,
: particularly near the beam.

I agree with Craig it shouldn't take much force to bring things together. I managed to hang the sides of my first S&G upsidedown (hulls curve up, right?). Came together fine, but the banana shape told me something was amiss before I made a permanent monument to my stupidity.
Geo. C.