Yes I think there is supposed to be a slight upturn on the bow and stern, I don't have an AI so I'm not sure how much it's supposed to be. Hopefully someone with an AI will feed back to us. I don't see anything in the pic indicating any major problem that just letting the hull sit a few days up right on the ground won't fix. Actually if you just let the boat sit a few days on whatever storage solution you end up with, that will be your starting point on this fix ( basically you want the hull in its normal shape before starting your hatch fix, normal meaning whatever shape it settles into when stored, the actual shape is not important, as long as it's consistant.)
Once settled in, whatever the hatch opening shape look like, it is what it is (bowed side walls and all (don't try to fix the bowed side walls, we will just work around them).
I think the inner seal on the hatch is the important one, to check that you can mix a little food coloring with cooking oil and paint the inside of the lid, then put the hatch on and strap it down ( don't push it down, leave the outer seal alone for now that we will fix last.)
If the inner seal is sealing all around you will see the impression of the seal in the colored cooking oil, if there are gaps that's where we have to add the silicone (under the seal) to even the seal out.
Once the inner seal is corrected and the silicone is dry (might take a few days) then you start on the outer seal. On the outer seal you can visually see the gaps and verify with either cooking oil or your paper shims. You just add silicone under the seal in the gap areas to bring the seal up so it seals all the way around evenly. The actual shape of the hull is unimportant at this point since you are just shaping the seal to conform with the shape you have to work with. This is why it's important not to start the fix until after you have the hull shaped into its normal stored shape (the actual shape is unimportant as long as it's consistant (within reason of course). Think of these boats as soft clay models, if you always store the boat on its side the side will become flat, if you store it on two saw horses it will bend over time, the trick is to store in consistently in the shape you want the boat to remain, then start your seal fixes.
Such is life living with polyethylene boats, I wish Hobie would try the new plastic we are developing, all these problems would disappear. It's called thrive and is much more scratch resistant, way stronger and lighter, and is environmentally friendly and sustainable (made from wood by products (cellulose based))
http://weyerhaeuser.com/pdfs/businesses ... ochure.pdfHope this helps
Bob