My '94 Scarab 29 engine hatch is operated by an actuator with the batteries in the engine hatch. The Perko switches are back there too.

I'm concerned the batteries may go dead and I won't be able to access the engines or the battery area there there is no access port that I can find.

In order to reach the pin that holds the hatch to the actuator in the event the actuator fails or the batteries die, I'm thinking of drilling, using a hole saw, an opening from the engine bay into the under-the-backseat area so that I can reach in there to pull the pin if this should happen. The hole would be covered with a plastic or rubber cover for daily use.

Good or bad idea? Any other approaches I can take here? Not a fan of moving the batteries out of the engine bay.

how about just adding some battery terminals under the seat? easy to get to for a jump start, but no help for dead actuator. My '88 excel had a slot it so you could pull up the hatch to get your hand in in that situation.

Is there not a PVC sleeve with a long slot in it over the hatch ram, as Sea6 already made mention of?

This will work. Fountains came with a similar setup. All you have to do is run it from the batteries in the engine bay to the the storage area under the back seat, and you're good to go.

http://www.warn.com/truck/accessorie...nect_all.shtml

There's no PVC sleeve. I like the idea of the battery terminals and run them under the seat.

Since there are two batteries, and I believe I had to have both hooked up for the actuator to work, how would I wire that? Or, should I only need one of the batteries to operate the actuator right now. The boat is brand new to me so I haven't spent enough time to look at how the actuator is wired.

When I picked the boat up the guy said he wanted to keep both batteries and the hatch was in the up position. In order to lower it for transport we put one battery on the starboard side and the actuator didn't work so we added another to the port side and it worked. We pulled the pin, lowered the ram, removed the batteries for transport, and I was on my way. I pryed it open yesterday and added my brand new batteries and reattached the ram.

So either the port side operates the actuator or I need both hooked up to operate the actuator. Thoughts on this?

I now see the link 86redrocket provided. I hook those up to the batteries, run them to the seat, then I use the ends to jump the batteries. That the idea?

Exactly. You can buy these kits already assembled with the alligator style battery terminal clamps on the ends. You can also buy the couplers, 4 gauge wire, etc. and build it yourself. Here are a few options:

http://csiaccessories.com/brutewiring.html

Thats something that Wellcraft put in alot of boats. You can see the access hole in this pic on my boat

I'm 99% sure I don't have an access plate like that. Going out to the driveway now to work on some stuff and I'll take a look.

I am going with this setup, which I am going to install under the back seat, run battery cable from the accessory terminal on the batteries to the back of these remote terminals. I'll keep them capped when not in use. There's a Summit retail store/warehouse within 50 miles that stock these as I am going there anyway.

The short coming of terminals under the seat is that you still cant open the hatch in the event that your actuator dies, they are only good for dead batteries. They are quicker and easier to hook up cables to, but for the occassional need for them from dead batts, you can actually just hook jumper cables to your hatch ram switch under the dash and perform the same function.

As to your question on battery connection to the ram, it is the port side battery that runs it, and it is wired to a constant power source. The hatch still has to run even when battery switches are off.