Has anyone removed the hydraulic hatch lift?

The side mounted base on my C-28 holding the hydraulic ram for the engine hatch keeps pulling out (seems it should be supported from the bottom instead) and I am considering removing it and just opening the hatch manually.

Has anyone done this successfully? And if so, what is involved and what do you do to disable the two-way rocker switch to actuate the ram?

Not a lot of experience in hydraulics here, so thanks for any pointers.


LakeErieC28

If you remove the ram, there will be nothing to hold the hatch open. It could fall on anyone working in the engine compartment. You may want to look into better attachment rather than removal. Maybe longer bolts with a backing plate?

Thanks for the thoughts, and I agree with your points in general.

I already removed the pin at the hatch end so the Ram is not holding the weight, and every time I open it I clip it open to the stern cleats (even though it opens to about 120+ degrees and rests on the stern-seat... just in case a strong gust could close it without the clip)

I’m not sure what longer bolts would pierce down that far in the side of the bilge, so I hesitate to go that route.

I would ordinarily leave it in place as is (unpinned and strapped to the side-wall of the engine compartment), but it seems operating the trim-tabs extends the ram slightly each time so I was just wondering how to properly cap it.

Or of someone has fashioned a different mount that supports it from the bottom?


LakeErieC28

I too am not a fan of the hydraulic lift on the engine hatch. I believe the new models use a jack-screw. Has anyone made the conversion from hydraulic to jack-screw? I'd be greatly interested in the details.

I just purchased a 2017 C28, got home to North Dakota on Friday.
I am "educating myself" about this particular vessel.
A couple of issues that have appeared:

The bottom mounting plate for the engine hatch ram has apparently failed to remain attached several times, and is loose now.

A large piece of the cabin woodwork over the stove / sink has broken loose from the port side of the cabin, the tabs adhesion to the fiberglass failed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks

Bumping post delayed in moderation queue.

FWIW, I had the same problem - the bottom mount was coming out. At the advice of my dealer, I screwed out the holes on the mount to allow for a slightly larger screw, then reattached with larger screws and 3M 5200. Within a couple of uses it started coming out again. When the dealer was out working on something else, they had a go at this, I believe doing the same thing, but evidently doing it better than my novice self, as it now seems to be holding ok. Because the ram on my boat also leaks hydraulic fluid when extended too far, we did discuss swapping it out for the electric lift. This evidently is not a small job so for the time being the plan is to replace the ram when it comes back in stock.

Related. my ram failed this last year and started leaking past the seals. had to lift the hatch while simultaneously closing the hatch on the pump to get the seals orientated and working. I had it replaced this last week at la conner maritime. - what fun they had.

apparently cutwater uses a custom valve assembly as the one pump powers both the trim tabs and the hatch. the solenoids on this assembly were also heavily corroded and failing which caused intermittent usage. the factory had to help out to get this resolved (Thanks!) but a good note to others who start having issues that its a custom part involved.

I still dont see a manual overide solution to the hatch if the pump fails in the closed position?

I did remove the lower mounting plate, drilled a couple extra (larger) holes, and obtained larger SS screws.
IT’s holding for now, if more troubles appear, I will explore installing a backing plate.

One way to not overextend the ram is to open it to a maximum point, without overextending it, and use a permanent magic marker to mark that point on the shaft. I learned this tip from a maintenance video and it's helped me. You do have to remark it on occasion but it helps to keep from opening it to far.