Attwood STX29-60-1 Stainless Steel Gas Spring Lift Support, 60 lb

Attwood built the STX29-60-1 to do one job and do it right. It holds a hatch, locker lid, or livewell cover open so you're not propping it with a knee or a stick. It's a stainless steel gas spring rated at 60 pounds of output force, with ball socket mounts on both ends and 15.20 inches of travel. Compressed, it sits at 21.10 inches. Fully extended, it reaches 36.30 inches. That's a real span of lift in a clean, corrosion-resistant package that's meant to live in salt water.

Where does a strut like this earn its keep? Center console hatches, mostly. The big forward locker on a bay boat, the in-deck fish box, the engine access hatch on a walkaround, the livewell lid that's forever slamming shut on your knuckles. Anywhere you've got a lid heavy enough to be annoying and light enough for a single 60 pound spring to manage, this is the part you want. The ball socket ends let it pivot freely as the lid swings, so you're not fighting side load every time you open up.

The whole point of going stainless is life span out here. Painted steel struts rust from the inside once the coating chips, and the rod pits where spray sits and dries. This one runs a stainless cylinder and a 10 millimeter rod inside a 22 millimeter body, so it stands up to constant salt and UV a lot better. We still tell folks to give the ball sockets a shot of marine grease once a season. That's the one spot that'll seize on you if you ignore it, and a five minute habit keeps the strut swinging smooth for years.

A gas spring like this isn't a coil. It's a sealed cylinder charged with nitrogen that pushes the rod out at a steady, controlled rate. That's why a good strut opens smooth instead of snapping up, and why it holds position instead of drifting shut. Cold weather can soften the push a little, since the gas contracts as the temperature drops, so a strut that's perfect in July might feel slightly lazy on a raw spring morning. That's normal. The 60 pound rating is the nominal output at room temperature.

Here's the honest part about picking a gas spring. The force has to match the lid. 60 pounds of output is a sweet spot for a lot of medium hatches, but a heavy fiberglass lid with a thick core might want more, and a light access panel might want less. If your lid runs heavy, boaters often mount a pair of struts to split the load, somewhere around 80 to 100 pounds total across two units for a big livewell or fish box lid. Lift the lid by hand at the far corner before you buy. It saves you the annoyance of a hatch that creeps shut or one that won't stay down.

Installation is straightforward if you plan the geometry first. The ball studs thread into your brackets, and the sockets snap over them with a spring clip. Keep the rod aligned within a few degrees of the travel path so it isn't side-loading, because a strut mounted crooked wears its seals fast and can start weeping gas after a season. The spring clips also let you pop the strut off the studs to service a hatch without tools. Measure your open and closed positions against the 21.10 inch compressed and 36.30 inch extended lengths to confirm the geometry works before you drill anything. And mount the strut rod-down when you can. It keeps the seals lubricated and adds life to the unit.

For a replacement on an existing hatch, match the compressed length, the extended length, and the force to what came off the boat, and you'll be back in business in about twenty minutes. For a fresh install, take your time with bracket placement and dry-fit it first. Either way, it's a simple, honest part that solves a daily annoyance on the water. And it's built to last a lot longer than a season or two in the weather.