No, there is not a lot of space between the drip edge strip and the edge of the hatch. About what you say. I did not need to compress the foam gasket. It seems ( from my leak) that I just needed to be diligent about running along the edge of the lid. I will take a few pictures as I am about to re-run the gasket now. Any idea how to post them on this forum? Do I need a web hosting service?