Hinge solution for engine access hatches.

Hi All,
Just wrapping up a complete retrofit of a kk54 and with the new JD6068 in and my 6’8” height the standard engine room access is super difficult. The previous owner installed regular hinges on two of the 4 large access panels but I wanted to see if anyone had a slick solution to hinge all of them, but not open all at once? Something that remains hidden or doesn’t stick up when closed?
I know there is another thread on manatee hatches but I’m specifically looking for hidden hinge recommendations.

Will post details of the work in a few weeks, sea trail on the new engine and Genset Monday

Thanks!
Arthur

Confused as to the access panels on a Krogen 54. Are these part of the saloon floor. On our Krogen 42 we used piano hinges. Not totally concealed but don't really stand out.

Yeah, 4 of them on the main salon floor, piano hinges are on the middle two but they stick up just slightly, hoping for something totally hidden. That way I can ditch the rug which currently makes accessing the panels a pain.

If you REALLY want hidden, you could use these:

STAINLESS STEEL HIDDEN HATCH HINGE- LONG

I used them in my salon hatch. I was BENT on having them truly hidden. It was a HUGE project to get the rim set up, teak trim pieces, levels, etc. I had to make a CAD drawing to get all the pieces, thicknesses, and rotation correct.

I was glad I did it as it came out really nice, but it was a ton of planning and work.

boathealer said:

..it came out really nice..

Click to expand...

That's an understatement. What a beautiful job!!

Any hinge can be installed with the barrel flush with the floor...if you don't want to open the door/hatch much past 90 degrees. Even with that, you'd have to chamfer the top corners. You might think that 'open' hinges would be useful so that you could lift the hatch sideways off of its pin. (see pic.)

Piano hinges can be had in huge sizes and the advantage is that the metal barrels would be along the whole length of the hatch and form a suitable walking surface w/o chamfering/beveling. Disadvantage is that you'd really have to work to get 'em off; take out half the screws.

Soss hinges can be had in stainless and in very large sizes/capacities. https://www.soss.com/

Other four bar hinges are probably too much trouble and take up too much space for too little capacity. Tried to find illustrations for such things; car door hinges are an obvious, but useless for our purpose, example. European-style cabinet door hinges, ditto.

My project of the day is designing a new firebox to accept an antique marble mantel. Current problem is inventing hinges I can make which will enable both glass and fire-screen doors to hang within the arched marble fireplace opening. I need to be able to build the fixed part of the hinge into the firebrick behind the marble. (see pic.)

I like the soss hardware, was looking at that a while ago.

boathealer said:

If you REALLY want hidden, you could use these:

STAINLESS STEEL HIDDEN HATCH HINGE- LONG

I used them in my salon hatch. I was BENT on having them truly hidden. It was a HUGE project to get the rim set up, teak trim pieces, levels, etc. I had to make a CAD drawing to get all the pieces, thicknesses, and rotation correct.

I was glad I did it as it came out really nice, but it was a ton of planning and work.

Click to expand...

Anybody would be thrilled with that level of craftsmanship! Very nice.