Today when I was opening the engine hatch, it opened just fine, but once open, it suddenly crashed back down closed. Now, it is stuck closed. I can use the hatch motor to raise and lower it about an inch or two, but cannot get it to go any higher. I know the motor has power; I can hear it working, but it is somehow stuck just about an inch above fully closed. That's obviously one problem, but the other one is that I cannot find any way to get the hatch opened manually. Surely, there has to be a release or other mechanism that will allow me to get into the engine compartment, right?

And since I'm sure I'll get questions about the boat, I should note that I just bought it two months ago, and I'm not sure if there have been hatch problems before. I realized the other day that it looks like at some point, someone changed the way the arm for the lift mechanism attaches to the top of the hatch. There seems to be an extra fitting hanging down that I suspect was the original fitting. Unfortunately, I did not pay much attention to it at the time, since the hatch has always opened and closed reliably for me, and now I obviously cannot see it to examine it more closely.

Thanks in advance for any help. - Rick

if the motor is spinning, can you have someone pull up on it while you try to raise it with the motor. kind of sounds like the gears stripped/went... have something ready to prop it up with once you get it open.

The motor is spinning, and we tried to lift the hatch while I was engaging the motor and while I was not engaging the motor, but it would not budge. We were afraid to apply too much force, because we weren't sure what we might break in the process. I will give that another shot, but don't think it will work unless I pull hard enough to get something to "give" - and since I'm not sure what will give first, I'm not sure that's a great option.

On my 311 SR-1 you can lift the hatch by hand (its HEAVY) about ten inches, which is enough to reach in and pull the pin that connects the hatch to the lifting ram piston. After you pull the pin, you can open the hatch fully - you will just need to prop it up manually.