Powered engine room hatches, request for pics

[Phrancus]

More often than I like I need to acces the engine room of our 26fly/28command. The hatches lift sideways and along their track there are hinges from the bench seat. That seat is hardly ever mounted as it is a hassle to remove and put somewhere while the hatches are open. In fact, one hatch I can more or less jam upright but the other one I can't.

Idea: hinges on the rear of the cockpit so I can open it to enough angle to do a visual check, perhaps drop something in there. Without removing the seat completely. And when I do remove it, the hatches need to open up all the way as high as possible.

Now I am thinking of electrically extending actuators. Not hydraulic. I don't know yet where to mount the non-hatch side though. Perhaps I need two to lighten the load so I can mount them half way the opening on the sides. Not sure yet about the forces at the start of the movement when the rods are 'in' and the angle to the hatch needs the heaviest push to get going.
Also depends on where they need to move to when the hatch is closed.

My request: if you can open your engine room hatches automatically, can you please post a picture of how this is constructed? It would help me to think up a solution for our boat.

Schermafbeelding 2022-04-19 om 21.16.20.png

This old thread doesn't have the pics (anymore) viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2747&start=10

[km1125]

If/when you do this, consider...

1) Using a pin on one end or the other of the actuator and either position it near enough a smaller hatch that you can reach in and pull the pin, or connect a wire to the pin so you can pull on the wire somewhere to disengage the pin. This is so that if there is ever an issue with the actuator, you can still open the hatch manually.

and/or...

2) Run the wires to the actuator such that you can connect a portable battery somewhere directly to the leads going to the actuator so that you can raise the hatch in the event of loss of boat D.C. power.

[Phrancus]

Good tip, thanks. There's enough room to make a bowden cable to the stairs inside, that would be smarter than the now disfunctional fire extinguisher pull cord near the stairs in the cockpit. Might as well add a power cable and have a socket to power it externally if needed.