I found some old threads about redoing deck hatches on a Cafe Racer but there was no real conclusion in any of them. Does anyone have any good info about redoing these? My port side hatch has some rot in one corner near the hinge, that I just found yesterday. I'd like to have a plan in place for when it's bad enough to need replacement. Thanks!

Depending on how you plan to change in your redo, but if you leave it stock, you only need to grind and take off the rot replace the wood and a little new fiber and you are good to go! What are your exact plans?

I was planning to stay original as much as reasonably possible, though I do like the speaker pods I've seen some folks mount to the underside of the hatches. Guess I'll just have to take the hatch off and start grinding away until I hit dry stuff, once I've figured out how to temporarily secure the opening into the cabin.

the speaker pods in the hatches would be cool but if you actually use your hatches (we do and have on both the cigs) the pods would block that. We’re always passing drinks and collecting trash from the hatches to those on the shore when we’re beached up (as my wife is doing to our friends in this pic). Also, I don’t think the shocks would hold up the weight of speakers. I suppose you could beef them up though.

Dustin Carter apparently has a mod to convert them to automated hatches with switches. I saw him post something about it somewhere, or maybe his wife on instagram. I like the idea of those

Agreed. I love the functionality of the hatch placement on my cafe, perfect for beach to boat interaction. My only gripe is how the latch hardware gets banged up constantly. Which reminds me to order another set of shocks from lip ship!

Yeah. The way the hardware hangs down and clanks around is annoying.

the system Dustin has sounds awesome! I’d like to be able to pull
up and hit a switch to open and close. We’re up and down non stop opening and closing them. They provide such a good cross breeze we usually open them every time we’re idling.

I text Dustin. That system is AAAAAAAAWESOME!!!!

Shocks at..........https://www.mcmaster.com/. save$$

Valid points. I do use the hatches for the same purpose when beached. There's really more than enough speakers elsewhere already, anyhow. Thanks for the input!

As far as I can tell, $53 instead of $25 each, so not cheaper
https://www.mcmaster.com/gas-shocks