396 Side Door latch'ish

[650Guy]

Hey All;

Ok, so my 396 was getting tucked away for a nice winters slumber when one of the deck hands jammed the side door closed without lifting the "plunger latch" on the side door. when pushing it back, the bottom plunger that goes into the hole broke off.

Trying to research the part and mechanism to fix it, but seem to be striking out. does anyone have any idea where I can find the parts manual for the door?

Thanks all!

[DanM]

650Guy, you’re in luck. I had the same thing happen to mine. I have the spec drawing from Carver for the part and I’d be happy to share what I did to repair it. I’ll connect with you tomorrow and get your email. I’ll scan the drawing along with some details on my repair tomorrow. Save the plunger part as you may be able to reuse it and save some $$$.
Dan

[Viper]

Dan, it would be nice if you can share that with everybody in case someone else has the same issue now or in the future.

[DanM]

That's a good idea Viper. I will have it up today.

Dan

[DanM]

So when my side door latch sheared off it sheared off clean. If you look at the picture it sheared where the bottom section which has the angle makes contact with the larger diameter piece of nylon. I called Carver and they were helpful as always and told me that to tool it would be around $35 plus shipping. I asked if they had the dimensions so I could understand what I was dealing with and they sent me this drawing.
With the drawing I saw that if I drilled and countersunk through the angle piece in a drill press to make it perfectly straight I could probably screw that piece into the base. You'll notice that there is about 1.5" of room to drill before you hit the threaded rod above which is part of the lift mechanism.

The nice part about this fix was that I did not have to remove anything. I drilled a pilot hole from the underside of the door up into the nylon cylinder where the angle part broke off, added some sort of adhesive (which one I can't recall) and screwed the angled portion in place being careful to make sure the angled portion would hit the strike plate correctly. It's been two seasons and has held firm.

Hope this is a clear explanation (and I hope the file came through:)

[650Guy]

man!!! this is AWESOME!!!! I honestly feared everyone would look at me with my highly technical terms and say "WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT?"

Thank you SOOO Much!!!!!!

[Viper]

[Midnightsun]

Gotta love this forum, so many knowledgeable people, no bickering and no religious/political mayhem going on. I have been on my fair share of forums, this is the most respectful and informative bar none. Let's keep it this way everyone and thanks for the awesome post.

[650Guy]

No doubt about it!! Just love this forum!!

Dan M, Dumb question but did you fabricate the replacement part or use the part number listed at the top and order it directly from Carver? Seems like it is PVC or teflon?

[DanM]

650Guy in reference to the kind way we have treated you. You get a 30 day or 10 question (which ever comes first) honeymoon in the group. Then the abuse starts:)

Now on to the part. I was lucky in that when mine snapped off it landed on the dock not in the water so was able to reuse it. It felt/looked like a a solid piece of nylon/teflon dowel rod that snapped where the wider and narrower sections met. If you do need the replacement part, call Carver ask for parts and have your hull number ready to share. Then tell him you need the plunger door latch P/N 52502A00. If you take the assembly apart and have access to a lathe you may be able to make your own.