Just picked up my 34' last weekend and am now trying to find out how everything works. There has been alot of talk here about hatch accuators failing,mine works really slow, it does appear that it is wired with 10 ga. wire. If it fails how do you get the hatch up to change it ?. 2nd question, My boat has 3 batteries, 2 battery switches and a C-charger brand battery charger, my question is do the battery switches have to be on to charge the batteries ?

If your hatch lift is connected like mine you can open it with no power, just lift hard on the hatch to over come the initial resistance. The end of the accuator rod should just be a slip fit into the bracket under the hatch.Next time you have the hatch open lift on it by hand and the rod from the accuator should pop out. I am not 100% sure and depending how every thing is wired i believe the switches need to be on for charging.

Where is your battery charger located ? I purchased mine back in August and it has a breaker for the charger but i dont see one in the engine bay, is it under the floor area ? How can i tell if i have one ?

I turn my bat switches on "all" while I charge mine, it seems to work that way other wise I don't believe it will charge otherwise. I lift my engine hatch every weekend, it is heavy but I ordered my new lift this week. Good luck.


Rich.

The charger is mounted to the bulkhead just in front of the port engine. PQ alwys has several circut breakers on the pannel that are available if you want to add an option that the original buyer did not order.
My Viper was the same way. It didn'y have a charger but it had a breaker for it. Also had a breaker for hot water and other things the the boat was not ordered with.

Is it relativly easy to install a charger if your boat was not equipped with one ?

I believe so.Try going to a local marine supply store( West Marine ) and they should be able to walk you thru the install. Plus they will have any of the little things you need to finish the job.

Yuo mentioned you just ordered a new lift, where from. Is yours now wired with the #10 ga.??
Let us know how the new one works out.
Thanks

I checked my sun pad lift cylinder this weekend, the cylinder rod is pinned directly to the underside of the pad. If it fails can you still force the sun pad open with the cylinder rod still attached ?

Yes
the rod slides inside the cylinder