303 Engine Hatch
 

Recently purchase a '92 303 and was surprised at how little the engine hatch opened. The actuator is only about 12" long and the hatch barley opens enough to stick your head in to look around. I removed the fastener securing the hatch to the actuator and was equally surprised at how heavy the hatch was to lift up. About all I could do to hold the hatch in one hand and work the actuator fastener in the other. Any one else notice this or have any comments?

Something is wrong, should open up a lot more than that. Pull the pin and prop it up with something. The first thing I would try is greasing the jack and see if it will work better with no weight on it. Your right, I can't believe how heavy they are. For some reason nobody ever greases these things. If that doesn't work you can PM me and I will do my best to help you out. The 303 is a great boat, Good luck.

Thanks for the reply. After studying it a little closer I saw the stainless sleeve that is used as an extension. The previous owner had removed the bolt that joined it to the ram essentially negating the extension. Once I installed the missing bolt life got a lot better. Now I just got to figure out why and the heck it's so heavy. I assume it's just a lot of glass, hope it's not water soaked plywood,

They are just heavy even in my 242.

They are heavy in general but I'm sure its got some water in there, the cover tends to lay on the hatch and we know what happens when the cover touches something