I've installed 6- 17LT  decks over the last 2 years. We scarfed the little triangle at the nose- a butt block would cause the deck to go flat at this point and kill the crown of the deck.

Once your two deck triangular blanks are rough cut, just lay them in place on the boat, measure the aft edge of the cockpit from the bow, lay your cockpit coaming lip piece on the deck, and trace about 2" inside the cockpit opening, on both the forward and aft deck blanks. The cutout serves two purposes- it allows the deck to transition from the tall radius at the front to the flat radius at the rear, and it allows you access to cut and clamp the joint at the cockpit sides.

We found that 4mm okoume doesn't always like the tight radius- we had two decks split the outer veneer along the edge. It also resists assuming a smooth camber all the way from the forward bulkead to the bow. If you understand developable surfaces, you'll see that as the sheer rises and the deck cambers, you're asking the deck to curve in two directions. The result is a kink or dished out area about 3' from the bow.

What seemed to work best was to pre-bend the forward deck piece at least over night: place it on the boat, get at least three straps and gently tension the deck to get it to bend, then use a wet rag to get the top surface quite wet, rubbing the water into the wood, and slowly increasing the strap pressure until the edges are within an inch or so of the sheer. Let it sit like this overnight, with the straps placed over the deck beam and forward bulkhead locations, and one further forward.

On install day, follow the directions in the manual, and once the forward piece is placed on the foredeck, repeat the wetting step as you increase the strap tension, again getting the deck within an inch or so of the sheer. Work your way back from the bow, a couple screws at a time each side, and increasing strap pressure as you can, adding water as the deck dries. (We used #8 x 3/4" pan head screws, so we could remove them after.) Excess strap tension will simply tear/crush the deck edge, so use it gently, and "walk" the straps rearward as your screws progress aft.

Good luck!

What he said. Especially the foredeck infront of the hatch cover area. Mine went flat. But it might be a great place for a compass if I had young eyes, or some other thing.