Yes, I bailed it, first I used a jerky rack (like the one under the cheese in the last photo) to hold the curds to one end of the vat. Then I used a square Tupperware bowl to dip out the whey into a bucket on the floor, one of the kids(got 6, 5 at home) poured it into a pot on the stove for ricotta. The canner is made for holding water so no, no bending. It also has rods welded into it at the lip for strength, never lifted more than 4 cups of liquid or curds at a time.
Jaspar