ZX Engine Hatch

[Zinger]

Man the engine cover on my 22 zx is very heavy , has anyone ever had a lift motor go bad in the closed position , you would need a crane to open it. Jeff

[Sean]

On the 33ZX they put a plastic piece with a slot in it so you can raise it by hand a few inches and disconnect the lift to manually lift the hatch. It was a retro-fitted for a previous 26ZX I had for that very reason. The hatch is really heavy on the 33ZX and takes two people to manually lift up without the pump attached.

[Sport]

I found a design flaw myself. On the 2000 26 ZX the batterys are inside the engine compartment, and when the battery goes dead there is no way to to open the compartment except to lift it by hand. It has to weigh about 175 lbs. You need 2 guys, one to lift and one to jump start it. So, after this happened once I had Donzi install an outside battery jumper connection inside the rear bench compartment. This problem never happened again. I think it ran me about $150.00 for the job even though it is a design fault. Or you can bust your ass and lift it and have a 4 foot piece of wood handy.

Sport.

[fasttrucker]

On my 1998 28zx.I use the cover under the back seat as a support.I lift the hatch then slip the fiberglass cover in.This is a real pain. :bawling:

[DJ13]

The owner prior to me on my '99 took the electric hatch motor out completely, replacing it with those pneumatic "lifter helpers" (for lack of a better description) on each side of the hatch. These are the type that you find on the hatches of SUVs and minivans. They help get the lid up but they don't help hold it down in rough water. His logic for the substitution was that "electric motors and saltwater don't mix." I understand the logic but would have preferred he left the hatch motor in place. Now I have no way to secure the hatch without sourcing a new motor. The good thing is, I don't have jumper terminals so I was still able to acces the dead batteries when I recieved the boat off the truck from Florida. I guess there are trade-offs with either scenario.

[Fish boy]

this might be a really stooooopid idea, but I seem to recall some "convenience battery chargers/jump starters for automitive applications where you can charge the battery by sticking a plug in the cigarette lighter rather than having to clamp to the batteries. I am sure they are not as good as jumping the old fashioned way, and I am equally sure the small cord attached to the plug will not as effectively supply power to a dead battery, but I wonder if it would give enough juice to get the hatch up?

Consdiering the dead battery is probably not an everyday occurance, it might work in a pinch if a pinch is all you need.

Fish

[RICPAZ]

I'm pretty sure that if you remove one of those round white plastic access covers near the front seats on the side of the cockpit you will find a set of terminals that you can hook up a battery to so that it will power the electric hatch.

[daboys]

and opening the hatch after I removed the batteries for winter storage - members of the board provided the following wisdom which I am happy to say works: I have jumper blocks behind the driver seat which I can use to power the hatch lift (design improvement) - but I guess I'm SOL if the motor goes bad.

[Bryan Tuvell 33ZX]

My '01 26ZX has the external terminals and the pin to take out of the pole so you can lift the hatch freely if all else fails.
Bryan