My friend Dave came over to help with the canopy today. Definitely a 2 person job!
As suggested, used masking tape to mark out incremental cuts.
Between each set of cuts we sanded with a belt sander to get rid of stress risers.
Once we got the initial cuts to within about 1/4" to 3/8" of the tape line, we used a coarse grit belt to grind down to within about 1/8" of the tape line.
Then we used a 120 grit belt to make the edges smoother.
We didn't get the canopy to its' final fit this afternoon, but with some hand sanding we are very close.
Masking tape outside face is the face to cut to.
Using the belt sander to grind down close to the finished edges.