Rear Hatch Mounting Plates

[Jkenne36]

Hello all, been looking at this issue for a while, hoping to do something about it with the boat in the garage now.... For each of the rear hatches, the screws have stripped through the panel over time and no longer hold well. Looking for a way to screw through the metal plate back into the actual panels. Second issue is for the engine hatch, the plastic mounting plate on the bottom where the swing arm attaches cracked over the summer.

Does anyone have any quick fixes for these? For the stripped out sections, would drywall anchors work?

[Jkenne36]

Gumby, all good questions that i didn't detail in the post Boat is a 2005 20V. Struts are securely mounted to the boat, but where the strut mounts to the hatch panel is stripped. I'll post back shortly with a photo of the engine compartment.

[KoolAid]

Gumby, all good questions that i didn't detail in the post Boat is a 2005 20V. Struts are securely mounted to the boat, but where the strut mounts to the hatch panel is stripped. I'll post back shortly with a photo of the engine compartment.

Hull ID start with TIXN or TIXY? There was a Switch V at that time that became the 20v in 2006. Switch V had aluminum hatches, the 20v had "daytonaboard" (plastic) hatches like the 22v and 24v.

[KoolAid]

Thinking more about this one. The center hatch has a piece of "proboard" which was basically PVC that was covered in vinyl. Should be a 1/2" thick. You could run 1/2" longer screws and get into the hatch itself, or pull that ring with the netting and make a new part. This is assuming it is an N boat. Another option is to pull the skin off the hatch, run a long screw through it with a tee nut on the inside, put the hatch back on and use the new screw as a stud to mount the bracket. Then cut off any excess length.

[KoolAid]

what koolAid said but use stainless steel hardware. I pulled the skin counter sunk 5/16 nuts glass resin them in. ( so they wouldn't spin or fall out) might be over kill. I only wanted to do them once.

Amen to that. I hate doing things twice.

[Jkenne36]

Hey guys, thanks for the good advice. Boat is at the in-laws garage so going off memory but pretty sure it’s TIXN. Pics below of the engine hatch in question, first year with it and trying to make small improvements!4CCA32E1-01FC-4BF5-BE37-2CEEB8E74205.jpeg

[KoolAid]

Yep, N boat for sure. Maybe try to flip the shock bracket over 180 so you have fresh screw holes. Could always cut you a new pocket plate as well.

On the hinge, I do not recall it having the extra tap/plate where yours is broken. Makes me think someone welded those on to give it a larger footprint. I am thinking your best bet is to through bolt them like Gumby and I were talking about.

[Jkenne36]

Thanks for the help y’all! Very novice boater so I’ll have more questions for sure!