has this happened to any of you??

[jimbo]

i have a 01 26 daytona and the other day i was opening the engine hatch and i heard a pop.. the heads on the screws that hold the hinge to the hatch all broke off on one side. now i have 4 screws burried in the wood of the hatch..
i think eliminator was cutting corners when they designed the hinge set up..
i can't be the first guy that this happened to????
most other boats i have had the hinge system on the hatch is normally thur bolted....
i would appreciate any recomendations or comments from the crew!!!!!
i will most likely call eliminator and get thier opinion...
jimbo

[Daytona100]

Mine worked loose and due to the movement cut the upholstery. Mine arent thru bolted either. If I remember right due to the angle or hatch design might be impossible to thru bolt. Maybe time to spend another small fortune and get the Dana hatch lifts. 04 Daytona :cry:

[cougarcat]

We had a '01 26' Daytona that did the same thing. I had to drill small (like #50) holes around the broken off wood screw to make the hole bigger so I could get the screw out. Then replaced everything with 3/16" stainless machine screws (through bolted). The bitch of it is the angle of the hinges in relation to the hatch. I think the replacement screws I had to get gripped around a 48 or so due to the angle making the hole about 3" long. Then I had to spot face the inside of the hatch so the washer and nut would fit flush.
Pain in the ass job but there's not much else you could do.
I can't believe how many damn wood screws are in these boats.

[gg10]

working on a buddies 26 with same thing, Eliminator has a reputation that gets top dollar for there boats, untill you actually work on them.

[Charley]

I'm no rigger and I don't actually know how others do it but it would seem Stainless T-Nutz might be appropriate, prior to interior

[jimbo]

cougarcat:
how long of a screw did you end up using??
i have some 10x24x3 ss counter sunk screws i picked up from west marine
yesterday along with some lock tight nuts and 1" fender washers..
i talked to eliminator yesterday and they said that i should try to get the wood screws out or just drill them out.. or slide the hinge over (right of left) and try to avoid them altogether..
jc

[jimbo]

cougarcat:
btw-how did you deal with the upolstry while digging out the wood screws..
it looks like it would get torn up!!
jc

[kanedog]

02 26' daytona. yep ,same thing. saw one bolt broke, then 2, then I put it off a little longer(just a few more rides hahah) then the 3rd one broke, then finally, snap , the 4th one let go and i was forced to replace them. It broke when I was showing off the shiny blower motor to 3 drunk chicks who loved big ass blower motors so i then couldnt show them. then i could not watch my friend have sex with thyem because they saw no motor,.
Anyways, i replaced them(the bolts) with regular bolts because I had no access to stainless. Geez, I better replace those with stainless soon!
My hatch is really heavy and there is a lot of strain on those bolts, I wish i had a light fibreglass one., maybe someday!

[spectras only]

My hatch is really heavy and there is a lot of strain on those bolts, I wish i had a light fibreglass one., maybe someday!
Rob , so is mine ! Friend of mine is going to make me a new hatch , with two scoops and some carbon fibre finish. He builds custom bikes and cars and knows his sh.....t ! He says the hatch would weigh around 10 pounds and you could walk on .It's a bummer that Eliminator couldn't figure out a way to make a hinge to support a hatch :jawdrop:

[cougarcat]

[cougarcat:
how long of a screw did you end up using??
i have some 10x24x3 ss counter sunk screws i picked up from west marine
yesterday along with some lock tight nuts and 1" fender washers..
i talked to eliminator yesterday and they said that i should try to get the wood screws out or just drill them out.. or slide the hinge over (right of left) and try to avoid them altogether..
jc
Jimbo,
It's been awhile but I believe they were around 3". It was very close (I only had 1 or 2 threads past the nut). You will need to spot face the area as the bolts come through at an extreme angle (or maybe since it's wood the washer will crush it flat).
I do remember that hatch was a frickin' load. I did the work by myself and it was a complete PITA!
About the upholstery......I just used an x-acto knife and trimmed a little bit from around the hole and tried to make the best of it. The hinge covered it fairly well. Take your time and try to get the proper angle on the drill so your screws come out on the inside okay.
Good luck.
On a side note----I just finished an even worse job that you may soon have to do also. On our '05 Daytona the wood screws that attach the interior panels to the boats have been backing out. I tried silicone, bigger, stronger screws, etc. Eventually they all continued to loosen or just snap off. . I had to take all of the interior out and I installed nutplates (basically just captive, floating, locking nuts in a small plate that attaches to the structure with pop rivets) where the holes from the wood screws were in the fiberglass. You can then use machine screws to hold the interior panels in place and the little buttons work just fine to cover the head.
Because the nutplates have locking threads the screws don't loosen and so far none have sheared.
I hope Eliminator is listening to this................this is POOR engineering!!