A number of years ago, a friend/fellow boater had to do some quick repairs in his boat's engine room that required him to be down there with the engine hatch closed. His First Mate stayed above decks, waiting for him to call her to have the hatch opened again. While waiting, she asked herself what would have happened if the electrically operated hatch lift failed while hubby was down there?
Fortunately for them, there was no issue when it came time to operate the lift, with a simple push of a button at the helm once again magically lifting the hatch. All good.
Of course, that conversation led to the realization that a back-up plan would be prudent. In case the electrical system failed, or if there wasn't enough power in the batteries to allow the system to function, some sort of manual operation would have to suffice. Happily, most (if not all) boat manufacturers have figured out a workaround for just such a scenario.
When we originally got our 1998 Sea Ray 330 Sundancer, I investigated to see how I - or potentially one of my rescuers - would perform this function in case of a loss of power.
On that model, there was a screw out inspection plate (*paid link) on the engine hatch that simply unscrewed if needed. That allows one to both look into the engine room, and more importantly, reach below to access a manual release.
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| Open-able plate to access the engine room. |
Here's a closer look at the plate, removed for access.
So, how does one open the hatch? Pictured below is a look at the ram that operates the power lift. The green arrow is pointing at a removable clevis pin (*paid link). By reaching through the removable plate, that pin can be easily pulled out of the ram. Once that has been removed, the entire hatch can be lifted up (on its hinges).
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| Removable Clevis Pin |
The only word of caution I'd mention is that the hatch on this boat was quite heavy, so an extra pair of hands might come in handy when lifting. Of course, be very careful if you have to perform this function, as dropping that thing on hands or feet would definitely result in injuries - and that's the last thing any of us wants when enjoying time on the boat...
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