On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:19:59 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Jan 22, 8:36Â*am, blueman wrote:
I bought some more "ess cleat" last night and it actually seems to be
about as stiff as 1/8" flat iron (note "drive cleat" was significantly
less stiff which is understandable since it has 2 (at most) layers vs
the 3 plus layers for ess cleat). I figure if I need more stiffness I
could even interdigitate two pieces of ess cleat to get an even more
ridgid band.

I will let you know how this works

If it's about as stiff as 1/8" flat steel, you're wasting your time.
Even 1/16"x1/2" angle aluminum will provide way more stiffening than
1/8" flat steel.

1/2" ain't gonna kill ya. Just round off the corners with an angle
grinder or belt sander and screw it on, either in an X pattern across
the panel that's bowing, or horizontally across the middle of the
panel, making sure to overlap the ends.
For oil canning, go across corner and it will be about twice as
evvective as either horizontal or vertical.