Finally had a chance to take my boat out with my family yesterday. All went well except we had an issue where my youngest daughter stubbed her pinky toe against the engine cover lower hinge and ripped her toe nail off. It looks a lot worse than its sounds. While I've stubbed my toe on the same hinge a few times before, I guess I never thought how bad of an injury it could cause.
With that, I'm looking to replace it with a different latching mechanism away from the base of the engine cover, and relocate it to the sides of the cover where it would be out of harms way. I researched and found the latching mechanism that I need, but each SS latch comes out to roughly $70 each from West Marine. (I will need 2). I've found similar latches at Home Depot that were less costly, but they were made of materials not suited for a marine environment.
Before diving into this project, I wanted to see if anyone else has run into this and what kind of modifications were done to prevent it from happening again? Any input would be appreciated.
J
With that, I'm looking to replace it with a different latching mechanism away from the base of the engine cover, and relocate it to the sides of the cover where it would be out of harms way. I researched and found the latching mechanism that I need, but each SS latch comes out to roughly $70 each from West Marine. (I will need 2). I've found similar latches at Home Depot that were less costly, but they were made of materials not suited for a marine environment.
Before diving into this project, I wanted to see if anyone else has run into this and what kind of modifications were done to prevent it from happening again? Any input would be appreciated.
J