32 Open rear live well lid slams on little hands!!!

[BOAT BULLY]

My 32 Luhrs live well and ice chest lids slam shut due to having locking hinge and not a strut. The little ones have bumped the hinge during use causing the lid to slam down hard!!!! Has anyone installed struts that have assist with this problem?

Thanks,

Gil

[dave01]

Call customer service, you can order "gas Shocks" to replace the hinges, i think. Or call your local dealer.

[irishrogue]

i dont think that the factory has a gas shock upgrade...

however after spending countless hours trying to figure out the proper shock length and mounting points, we nailed it on the first try...you need atwood stainless shocks in 60lbs, 7" closed, 11" extended. You can get the stainless straight and angled brackets from West. The shocks can be custom ordered from West or I got them from Jamestown Marine distrib.

Note when drillng the top mounting pad, it has an aluminum plate embedded. it was hard to dril and we were afraid the bit would punch through the plate and go right through the glass (and the top of the lid). fortunately that didnt happen but our holes also are not perfect and didnt line up as nicely as i would have liked. We didnt tap the top hole with threads and use a mahine screw...we ran a sheet metal screw in and almost twisted the head off...proceed with great caution.

Note the placement of the brackets - with this configuration you get almost maximum opening (a bit less than with the factory hinge) with no binding. overall very happy. the 60lbs spring easily holds the lid up and when closed it stays shut except if the boat is really bouncing...i would like to add a latch BUT the recessed front edge makes it very hard to mount....not sure how to fix this yet....but it really isnt necessary. the lid wont bounce up if anything is sitting on it...even a beer is enough weight to keep it down...

[Momentai]

Nice job and good call Irish. My grandson, 31/2 will be onboard EOM and I now have the EXACT fix I was looking for on my 38 Open.
Well done and thanks for the solution. You are why I joined the forum to get actual owner solutions.
Momentai

[flbluerunner]

Great job on the hatch fix.
Thankfully newer boats are going this way, the old way could hurt someone.

John :patriot:

[Rusty]

Great solution!!

I printed this out and will do on my 32 Open.

I almost cut my fingers off one time cleaning the cabinet when I accidently hit the spring. On another occasion, I almost broke my fingers when the lid slammed shut.

I am fearfull a guest on the boat could get hurt.

Rusty

[witeagle]

I found atwood models in the following configs

7 to 10 @60 lbs (atwood part # SS30-60-5)
or
7.5 to 10.5 @60 lbs (attwood part # SS32-60-5)


do you remeber which one was used?

[irishrogue]

thanks for the kudos....makes the many hours i spent trying to figure out the geometry a bit easier to swallow....if i could have climbed inside the box to measure it would have been so much easier....

we actually used the attwood SS-10-60-5. 3" stroke, 7" closed, 10" open. sorry for the confusion and the 11" measurement....

I actually couldnt find the larger shaft diameter of the SS 30. it is a special order item and even West wasnt sure they could get it let alone other suppliers...The SS32 would probably work but with the same stroke, it wont give you more opening. If someone finds them, post it on the board - probably a good idea for a 60lb spring....althought the 6mm diameter seems fine...no issues at all with only 1 spring holding the hatch up.