HELP! 44DA Engine Hatch Won't Open

RanAmok said:
Sadly, the issue remains. My only remaining option appears to be the use of a forklift to lift the hatch...
Click to expand...
I had an actuator break a couple of weeks back. My son and I lifted the hatch to support it with 2x4's ...now we didnt lift it from fully closed...so we had the lip to grab onto and it wasn't that heavy. Could you not take out the side hatch and raise that corner of the bigger hatch to grab onto.
obviously pull the pins before hand... I am thinking you still have the problem of grabbing onto it with a forklift
 
Don't know if this will help, but I saw the mechanics from our marinas service department working on a 340 a few weeks ago where the actuator had failed. They had a 4x4 laid across the boat sides with towels underneath it and rigged a come along to raise the hatch enough for one of them to get in there and work on it. I don't know what they attached the come along to but it looked like it was going into that access port. Could have just been a piece of 2x4 with an eye bolt in it. Might be easier and less expensive than a fork lift.
 
Blueone said:
I had an actuator break a couple of weeks back. My son and I lifted the hatch to support it with 2x4's ...now we didnt lift it from fully closed...so we had the lip to grab onto and it wasn't that heavy. Could you not take out the side hatch and raise that corner of the bigger hatch to grab onto.
obviously pull the pins before hand... I am thinking you still have the problem of grabbing onto it with a forklift
Click to expand...
We finally resorted to the manual lift. I was able to start at the corner then the others joined in with lifting and bracing until we had it opened and secured.
Thank you.
 
Update: My engine hatch issue has been resolved!!!

Friends and I were able to manually open the hatch and verify the hatch lift motors were fine. We determined the wires from the helm to the motors were compromised somewhere because we noted the voltage drop at the motors when under a load.

We fabricated a temporary fix on Sunday (7/23) so we could control the hatch while I obtained more information from Sea Ray.

Everyone returned on Monday to continue to troubleshoot, and as a result we ran a new wire from the switch on the helm directly to the hatch lift motors.

Two, very long days but I am glad I can finally open the hatch again. May was so long ago...

Thanks to everyone for their help and ideas.
 
RanAmok said:
Update: My engine hatch issue has been resolved!!!

Friends and I were able to manually open the hatch and verify the hatch lift motors were fine. We determined the wires from the helm to the motors were compromised somewhere because we noted the voltage drop at the motors when under a load.

We fabricated a temporary fix on Sunday (7/23) so we could control the hatch while I obtained more information from Sea Ray.

Everyone returned on Monday to continue to troubleshoot, and as a result we ran a new wire from the switch on the helm directly to the hatch lift motors.

Two, very long days but I am glad I can finally open the hatch again. May was so long ago...

Thanks to everyone for their help and ideas.
Click to expand...
And that is a problem most will eventually have - the long wires and the current the motor draws through the little helm switch is a recipe for failure. It's simply a poor design. My 400DA was modified with relays (below pic) and heavy 10ga conductors from a new 40 amp circuit breaker in the main breaker panel to the lift motor. The switch on the helm simply actuated the relays. In the end that hatch could eject unsavory characters out of the boat...…
EngHatchRelays.JPG
 
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