Im debating between adding friction hinges or gas struts to the hatches on my Heron. I remember hearing from somwhere that the friction hinges can cause too much torque.
Any body love/hate them? Have a brand they like or would avoid?
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Here are stainless gas shocks that some builders use on their skiffs:
Measurements and lift rating is on the site.
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Thank you so much!!
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You’re welcome - smaller hatches only need one shock. I’ve seen some full size hatches (span from port to starboard) have two shocks, but maybe only one is needed depending on your setup. I believe the Heron has multiple small hatches, so single should be good.
Yeah its got 3 hatchess a bit less than half the width of the deck. They are just long though which is why i wanted to ask about friction hinges before dropping money. I will take measurements and order later this week.
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The cause a lot of torque on the hatch lid and receiver. On a production boat they are probably fine but for my homebuild I had to take them of cause they were causing to much stress on my hatches. The two hatches I did have them on both wore out the hinge within a year and they would start to fall down on their own.
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My Waterman has spring hatch supports from Moonlight Marine. They’re solid–well made. I just replaced one of the originals (skiff was built in 2007).
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Just a quick story with some information. When I bought the Marquesa new, I did pay for the seat cushions to be attached, which places them on the top of the hatch lids of course! The problem was the gas shocks that Hells Bay used were only 20 pound shocks, which meant they did not have enough strength to hold up the hatches and those lids could fall hard on a hand etc.
I replaced the gas shocks with 40 pound shocks which certainly kept the hatch lids up, but pushed the lids over to the side, causing them to strike the well every time they opened or closed.
I guess it’s a fine line between the weight determined by the shocks or maybe just going with a spring, which is what I did with my new professional.
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Here are your quality gas shocks
I have no experience on the friction hinges
Facebook did advertise this to me the other day. I took a screenshot because for those of you with very small bilge hatches that need to remove them to access things in there. This is better than removing screws.
Those are great!