[Deejc]

Just finished rewiring hatch actuator with relays and heavy wire. Worked great. Went for a boat ride. Hit some serious cruiser wakes. When I got home couldn't raise hatch. After checking it out I'm pretty sure one of the splices at the actuator must have come apart. Anyone know any tricks for getting the hatch open? I'm considering taking up cushion and drilling a hole so I can reach the pin release

 

[JRider]

Pull the hatch hinge pins if you can, then try to move your hatch around to access the actuator pins. If you pull a cushin you may also find the actuator brackets thru-bolted to the hatch.

 

[Deejc]

Good ideas. My hatch is on a piano type hinge with screws hidden. My center cushions remove for walk thru. No bolts visible.

 

[KONK]

Check to make sure you have power at the switch first, if the switch has spade connectors they can get pulled off on a big hit if the wires are not supported properly. You can also use jumpper leads and a cordess battery to put power to the switch to make sure you havent lost power to the switch somewhere.

 

[Deejc]

I checked with my multimeter. When switch is activated the wires from the relay to the actuator become live. I'm pretty sure the continuity loss is at the splice near the actuator.

 

[Deejc]

Follow Up

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I found 2 screw/bolts behind center back cushion thru a metal backing plate. Was able to unscrew while holding upward pressure until luckily the nuts on the other side fell off. Turns out that when I had zip tied and tidied up after the project, I hadn't left enough slack for hatch movement and one of the wires had pulled loose from its connector.