What to do if engine hatch lift fails
 

So I have always wondered what is the solution. If the lift fails how do you get to it?

Just happened to a boat I take care of. Hydraulic actuators. He's screwed. Will have to cut a hole. No other way around it. There is no way in.

I ran into a post by Member Panther a little while ago , and on his Apache, he made a few pull pins with wires. Brilliant ! Do a search. Simple and very effective.

My old Pachanga had a small cutout with a threaded plastic cover just large enough to reach through and pull the pin out of the actuator. Enabled the hatch to be lifted manually. Not sure why my 1986 Sea Ray had a back up but my 2000 Nordic doesn't. I have also been in the complete electrical failure situation where the only thing needing reset was the breaker on the engine. I have since wired my cabin door, hatch and trim directly to the battery just in case lol.


Maybe if you were wiry enough, you could remove the batteries and pull a pin if one were put into place on the lower half of the actuator.

I was thinking the same thing the other day...my Baja had a pin release and a way to manually lift it far enough to pull the pin. What is Nordic thinking. Maybe they think both rams will never fail at the same time. Poor design. I'm thinking about adding a release somehow.

I had the main engine harness plug come loose from the back of the engine on my heat last fall and it completely shut everything off. I had to get towed back to a dock where I was able to remove the screws holding the back seat down to the floor and tilt the seat forward enough to reach in there and unbolt the actuator from the hatch. It was a major pain! I'm going to hard wire that SOB and add a switch somewhere this spring.

This happened to me in my 05 heat. I have since purchased a quick release pin. You still need to be a contortionist but if you reach in from beneath the rear seat where the batteries are, you can pull the pin and open the hatch. You can be proactive and replace the bolt with the quick release before you have a problem. You can also go one step further and cut an access hole in the seat base just large enough for your arm to fit in to reach the pin.

i put a bracket on mine that allows pulling the hatch open about 4 inches to access the pin.


http://www.iboats.com/Lenco-Stainles...view_id.356465

Does your pad hop around with that slide hinge

My 272 formula had a slide similar to what Baja uses. Ground wire came loose on my hawk, I was lucky enough to have some wire and made a jumper to the circuit under the dash from the house batteries

no, ive never seen the hatch bouncing. its a tight fit.