Hi Andrew. 2 comments.
The blue closed cell sleeping pad foam can be stuffed into the hold of a kayak and it forms itself to the inside fairly nice.
It takes less space than you expect. It can still be pulled out if you need something warm under you. It also protects the inside of the canoe from the gear.

One of the things I see with fire-steel rod is people don't scrape it hard enough when using it. A light scrape gives flashy sparks that don't burn long enough to catch bad tinder. It looks good but there is not much heat in it.
A good deep hard scrape will give big fat sparks that burn for a bit longer.
A small square edge on the back of your knife makes a very good scraper.