Engine hatch hinges and removal
 

Hey guys...
my hinges on my engine hatch (88 baja 240) have always been a little loose. I was planning on removing them and fixing all of them at the end of this season, but i was out on some rough water this weekend and noticed all 4 hinges had come undone. I'm planning on removing the entire sunpad/engine hatch and lifting the upholstery and probably end up replacing the wood and installing new hinges. I would like to try and fill the exsisting holes on the hull and start over fresh. Also, my hatch lift works fine, but I wish it was centered, the hatch always twist to the side when its opening. Any help or suggestions in tackling any of these problems would be appreciated!!

You sure yours is made out of wood? Mine is definitely a solid sheet of about 1" plastic. It bounces a little and it is a little, eh, mushy? But it's not rotten or anything. If I were you I'd use the same hinges and re-do them by filling the old screws and re-drilling/tapping/locktiting them and be done with it. A lot of people on here have had trouble with their hatch binding and not opening after trying a new hinge.

Just my $0.02.

definitely made of wood, i have a small tear in near one of the hinges, i think where the previous owner put in new screws, and it is wood, and thank you for your $0.02!!

All I have to say is good luck finding hinges that will work on that hatch. I have the same boat, and I tryed to use the eddie marine hiden hinges and they dont work with this boat. Cause the if you make the hatch sit flat with the fiberglass it has no where to move when you try to open it. The material on the hatch itself gets caught and wont alow the hatch to open up. I have had issues trying to find something that will work for two years now.

Alright, think im going to use the existing hinges... Has anyone heard of adding lift supports to the hatch to make it easier going up. I feel like my battery really struggles to lift the hatch, even with a full charge and the engine running.

My 89 has a screw (one hole) and a bolt and nut (other hole) for each hinge, thats just the bottom half of the hinge. T nuts in the wood for the bolts for the other half, that goes into the hatch cover.
I think I found a hinge from West Marine a while back.

Here is my hatch and the hinges. Mine is even with the fiberglass. Ignore the missing one, this was from a test run and I was in a hurry.

Also, if you want to make your actuator run faster you need to run larger cables or use relays. Search on here for 'hatch relays' and you'll see what I mean.

When I redid my boat, I ran a 2 awg to the helm to run all the switches, the main +12 in the engine harness only powers the gauges/starter switch. Then ran 10 awg to my actuator. Previously using the engine +12 and 14 awg wire to the actuators it would cause a horrible voltage drop. Now it works like a charm and I didn't need the relay kit I bought.

Do you have the fiberglass tray on the underside of the hatch? If it's been replaced before you might not. I do, and my hatch goes up very evenly with only one actuator offset to the STBD side.

C deezy, thanks for the input... I do have the fiberglass tray, and my lift is on the strbd side as well, but it sags on the port side when i lift it. Thats why i was thinking about adding some type of gas or hydraulic supports.

i have a 92 Baja 270 and recently had about the same issue, i was on Lake Erie a few weeks ago and lost 2 sets of hinges from the engine hatch, when i opened it after getting back to the marina, it went straight up, then I noticed the hinges were gone, The cover was made of wood with the fiberglass tray, but was so bad i couldnt get it apart in one piece or even three, it was bad. i just bought a piece of 3/4" plastic i am going to do the repair with, but i bought the hinges from eddie marine, hoping they work after reading this thread, i bought the longer ones that were 5 inches, i will let you know how i make out this week