My 1990 Catalina 30 has a broken hinge on the wooden hatch door to the engine compartment under the settee. Any idea where I can get a replacement It is an unusual zigzag shape.
Offset Hinge for engine hatch
- Thread starter Cheshire Cat
- Start date
ha. the doors keeep opening and getting stepped on and hinges bashed. i have had success in re-bending them, but use a good one as a model since they can be confusing. if not, defender and west marine sell them. bring money.
i have always had a sneaking suspicion that whoever designed the engine doors had some kind of deal with the hinge company.
mortyd- same problem here with the door opening and then getting stepped on or kneeled on. I'm thinking of removing hinges and replacing with something similiar to the panels used on the Catalina 27 access panels. it was a block of wood cut like an upside down L. It will be nice to be able to remove them while accessing the engine -they are always in the way.
I can't work out to post a picture except with a URL which doesn't apply to pics on my phone.
AaronHP put a small strip of Velcro across the top of his doors, I intend to do the same, as mine tend to flop open while under way
stu, they bend quite easily back into shape, but it's important to duplicate an original since the configuration is far from intuitive. very strange design from day one; so hard to keep colosed, so easily stepped on.
That hinge is a very common cabinet hinge. The only difference is that it chromed brass not chromed steel. If you can handle replacing them occasionally due to the rust possibility then take a good one to Lowes or Home Depot. They are 3/8" inset face frame cabinet door hinges. Double check the hole drilling there is an industry pattern but not really a standard. You can also get spring loaded hinges and do away with the latches.
I am a cabinetmaker and just made up some wood cleats and did away with the hinges. Now the panels can be moved all the way out of the way to work on the motor.
I am a cabinetmaker and just made up some wood cleats and did away with the hinges. Now the panels can be moved all the way out of the way to work on the motor.
On our boats there is a door to access the valves underneath the sink that use that same hinge. The boats came from the factory with the hinges on the bottom, so that everyone ended up stepping on the door. After a few years, a skipper published his great idea in Mainsheet magazine: move the hinges to the side, like a real door, problem solved.
The hinges are flakey, even the OEM ones, I bought replacements but after ten years haven't bothered installing them until I absolutely have to.
The hinges are flakey, even the OEM ones, I bought replacements but after ten years haven't bothered installing them until I absolutely have to.
the cabinet maker hit it on the head. the inexpensive hinges are not nautical quality. but they're really not difficult to bend back into original shape. the brass ones.
When you get new hinges try remounting them at the top of the opening. I know they will be hard to keep open when you want to work in there but you won't be breaking them off. Mine are mounted there and when I have to just look in the engine compartment I don't risk them being stepped on and broken. When I have to work on the engine it only takes a few seconds to just unscrew the top of the hinge (part attached to the frame) and set them aside as it is easier to work with them removed. I do that for all three hatches. With top mounted hinges they don't fall open from vibration either. You will have to switch the spring latch too but that is also easy. Just a thought.
I second that idea, two hinges for around five bucks chrome plated you can't go wrong. When they get rusty just by two more..
I did you stainless steel screws when I replaced mine with chrome plated hinges.