weight of engine hatch

[Cutwater28GG]

anybody have an idea of the weight of the engine hatch?

I want to unbolt my ram so I can raise the hatch further for the engine service. trying to figure out away from the boat is this a one or two person job.

I was thinking of bracing it using rope to the stern rails

 

[S. Todd]

Easy to do. The hatch on our R29, which has the same D-4 engine under it, is simple to unhook from the ram and lay further back for improved access. You can use an adjustable boat hook to brace it at the right spot when removing the ram, then it easily rotates back further on its hinges. I never done it as a two person job.

 

[Someday*]

Another hatch question:

If say all the batteries were dead on our R29 and the therefore the hydraulic lift ram was inoperative...can you manually pull the hatch open with the ram still attached?

 

[gswearin]

Note that at least on my R29, when you release from the RAM there is a washer thingy (technical term) that will fall to the farthest corner of the bilge if you don't put your hand under it.

 

[Cutwater28GG]

Note that at least on my R29, when you release from the RAM there is a washer thingy (technical term) that will fall to the farthest corner of the bilge if you don't put your hand under it.

There is hard-won wisdom 😀

 

[scross]

When we were C-28 shopping in November, a 2020 C-28 in Bellingham had the hatch ram disconnected for repair of a hydraulic fluid leak. The hatch wasn’t so heavy that the owner had an issue lifting it to show us the engine. It should be noted that the owner was in his 40s and in great shape. Mark did mention was just slightly harder to open manually with the ram still attached.
He used two straps between the hatch flange and the transom rail to make sure it stayed up while I peered around the engine.

 

[S. Todd]

Our 2021 R29 has a locking pin that holds the Ram to a stainless bracket that has a slot in it that is about 6 or 8 inches long. The trick is that when you close the hatch you stop the Ram as soon as the hatch is closed. When you stop the Ram at that point you have the benefit of that slot that you can easily lift the hatch in the event of a battery or a Ram motor failure. If you lift the hatch manually and prop it up on a fender or something similar you can then reach the locking pin and remove it, disconnecting the Ram, so you can lift the hatch the rest of the way. On the R29 the hatch then easily rests against the back cockpit seat giving you excellent access to the engine, much better than when the Ram remains attached. I have installed two approximately half inch thick nylon spacers on either side of our Ram locking pin to center the Ram in the slotted bracket. I have to carefully catch them when removing the locking pin or else fish them out of the bilge later. The process of removing the pin and catching the nylon spacers is relatively easy when the ram is fully extended and I always do so when changing oil and other similar maintenance because of the greater access. (When we had a R25SC there was no ram and I just lifted the hatch manually. That was a piece of cake and the electric Ram almost appears to be a boat show "gimmick" like the relatively worthless wine cooler that sucks power. The big advantage of the Ram is that if you have to lift it while in rough water for a necessary engine check, fuel filter change etc. you don't have to worry about the hatch falling down. If our electric Ram ever failed, I don't know that I would be inclined to replace it.)