Half cylinder of the rim is arrange horizontal and half is vertical it's gonna give seam on normal map no matter what though. It's better to arrange it on the same direction/ orientation.
My guess is that you translated the flattened hull at object level instead of translating at component level. In a blendshape (morph), the vertices need to move somewhere for the magic to happen.
Nice base for the wood, reminds me of the challenges I faced with my door with having to create separate horizontal/vertical masks for the grain direction. Good luck.
Well, this is a considerably bad rig, and bad topology too. The joints are competing for the lack of vertices in the mesh. You should try retopoing it better.
The vertical thatching wouldn't work. That side should be sloped or without thatch: Notice that the thatch is quite thick, and the ends are generally trimmed neatly.