[NogginDoc]

Noted yesterday that my power hatch for the engine isn't working properly. The starboard hatch motor lifts slowly, but after about 8 inches, it stops. It's obvious that the starboard side is the only one working, since the port side is lagging behind. I managed to pull the pins out of both brackets connected to the hatch itself (that was quite a feat since I had to support the weight of the hatch with my neck and shoulders while unpinning the lifts...sore today...lucky that I didn't get trapped under the hatch). I supported the open hatch with an oar, and proceeded to check the lifts without the load of the hatch. The starboard motor and lift worked slowly. The port side motor and lift were dead.

I was thinking of either replacing the whole thing with 120 lb gas springs like WetWilly, but didn't know if I could mount them in the factory locations (on the hatch and where the motors are mounted in the engine compartment).

The other thought I had was to simply replace the port side motor/lift with a single 120 lb gas spring so that the starboard side motor/lift could get less resistence, and still get some helping opening the hatch.

Thoughts?

[IowaWing]

Check the wiring to the hatch lift motors. It seems to be a problem area for corrosion and high resistance at the connections. You might find they work OK after you make better connections.

You need to check for 12 Volts at the motor and then work backwards until you find the problem location.