YES. Thank you for this! Also, thanks for saying, “can be nerve wracking for some”. 😂 I felt less bad for not figuring this out myself LOL And, now I can finish a Christmas present! 🎁 Happy Holidays…
Buck, I have a heavy boat hatch that I had to remove to repair the fiberglass on it. The piano hinge rests in the deck. When installed, the hatch folds into the cut out of the deck. It seems like I’ve got to somehow suspend the hatch verticallyand work from under the deck to put about 20 screws into the hatch. Any ideas?
Yes have done that before (carpet wrapped wood and fiberglass). In both cases I mounted the hinge to the deck/boat first then used a blind hole finder to mark 3 holes on the inside of the hatch. Then tested spacing when shut once those three fasteners were installed. Then put in. I have not tried it personally, but thought double sided tape would work as well. Meaning install hinge on boat side, then shut hinge to closed position, then install double sided tape, then place hatch on top of tape. Then gently open and mark some test holes. Again haven’t tried the tape method myself (only hole finder method) but that was my backup plan if the hole finder didn’t work.
On some of the aviation ones I used to install they used to have special end caps that would hide it/prevent pin from backing out during flight. I haven’t seen them for woodworking projects, although they may exist.