Came aboard my 1998 40' DA yesterday...

[Rakkus]

Came aboard my 1998 40' DA yesterday and smelled a bad battery. Opened the electric hatch and, sure enough, the battery for the genset was cooking. I turned the AC/converter off and let the battery cool down. Then removed both connectors, figuring I would replace it with a new battery the next day. I replaced the other four this spring. Went about enjoying the boat at the dock. Next day went to open the hatch and it didn't work. No joy on the hatch. Tried to jump it with the emergency start at the helm and still no go. It couldn't be the missing battery because I closed the hatch the day before and it worked perfectly. The breaker under the helm had not tripped either. With no way to open it should I expose the toggle switch display and jump it from there to a battery? 

[lady_Patricia]

There is a way to open the hatch if the battery is flat. If I remember correctly, you plug a power supply into the cigarette lighter at the helm. Check your manual.

[SeaMax]

LP is correct, mine came with a cigarette adapter to connect external power. You may also have a small round access port in the hatch cover that you can remove, then reach in and remove the pin from the hydraulic cylinder so you can manually lift the hatch.

[RAV]

I had a similar problem on my 420DA. There is a magnetic sensor on Transom door that was not recognising that the door was in open position. A quick fix was to tape a penny or metal washer over the sensor enough to close the gap with the adjacent magnet on the door. Then lift worker fine. Eventually replaced sensor on hull.