Banging Halyard on Hamford Water

[LittleSister]

When 'at rest':
The main halyard I unclip from the sail and clip round the handrail on the coachroof.
The genoa is r/r and 'permanently' rigged so there's no length of halyard to rattle.
The spinnaker pole uphaul I removed from the boat as we don't have a spinnaker, but I've now realised I should have left it on as I do have a genoa pole I want to try out.
The spinnaker halyard I left on as an emergency spare halyard, and for years it's been tied off out of the way on one side of the front of the pulpit, ahead of the genoa. (Though I did think the other day it had maybe bent the pulpit upwards slightly on that side, and will have to check that out more closely.)

 

[Otter]

I'm in awe, this is serious stuff

 

[PaulRainbow]

I'm in awe, this is serious stuff

Hope you're paying attention Simon.

 

[Otter]

Hope you're paying attention Simon.

You know I think the technical side of it is a bit beyond me but I'm going to buy some heavy duty elastic halyards so they won't whack the mast.

 

[Ludd]

Did you consider the possibility he could have been deaf?

Pardon?

 

[Lucky Duck]

What about 'humming' topping lifts?

Fortunately this isn't a problem for me as I don't appear to have one.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Whats your preferred method, tie it back or attach it to something else? One in the boatyard next to me has his main halyard attaching to his guardwire

I take all halyards well away from the mast. Spinnaker and spare jib halyard go to the pulpit; main halyard to the end of the boom. Spinnaker guy to the bottom of the Baby stay. Nothing rests against the mast, so there's no noise. Setting all that up is simply part of my stowing routine after being at sea.

There is a sort of low frequency flutter in a strong wind, but I doubt it is audible off the boat.

 

[RupertW]

What about 'humming' topping lifts?

Fortunately this isn't a problem for me as I don't appear to have one.

Loosen the mainsheet a bit and tie the boom over to the mid-cleat - we always do this and it stops the gooseneck squeek too. As well as tieing all the halyards off towards the stays with sail ties.

But it's generators and aircon with outlet pipes above the waterline which drive me insane. I have been known to unplug boats with aircon in marinas as soon as I hear the thermostat temporarily switching it off.

 

[Otter]

But it's generators and aircon with outlet pipes above the waterline which drive me insane. I have been known to unplug boats with aircon in marinas as soon as I hear the thermostat temporarily switching it off.

This sounds scary, what do you do when you're really angry and when everything is just so, and the world is the way you want it, is that a nice feeling?

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

But it's generators and aircon with outlet pipes above the waterline which drive me insane. I have been known to unplug boats with aircon in marinas as soon as I hear the thermostat temporarily switching it off.

Thats nice for people with freezers, criminal damage?

 

[pyrojames]

What about 'humming' topping lifts?

Fortunately this isn't a problem for me as I don't appear to have one.

Only solution I have found is to add some weight to it. I found a shackle hoisted 1/3 of the way up stops it. It a resonant frequency mass/ tension thing. Significantly changing the tension for me is not possible due to the weight of the boom, so I add mass.

 

[escapism]

Ditto all of the above

But ... I've got a guitar!

We once rafted to a boat in Dieppe, and on turning off the engine heard the banjo line from 'duelling banjos' being played badly from the raftee. We can take a hint. Unleash the accordion!

 

[FullCircle]

I have just ordered a rubber mast

 

[Saguday]

Remind me to tip toe in gently to Hamford water next time we're up there

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

Anyone care to experiment with humming topping lifts?

I have an idea, taken from problems with tall chimneys, that if yo wrap a spiral of some thin line around the humming line it will not hum.

see

It works by disturbing the resonant turbulence that occurs and prevents the chimney oscillating itself to bits.

 

[Bru]

Unleash the accordion!

Got one of them too! Haven't played it for a long while though, must dig it out

 

[rgarside]

The spiral strakes will work. However, the simplest thing I have found is once the main is packed away, tie a supporting line from the backstay to the end of the boom then release the tension on the topping lift.

 

[wingdiver]

What about 'humming' topping lifts?

Fortunately this isn't a problem for me as I don't appear to have one.

We twist out main halyard around the topping lift a few times before tensioning. Works fine.

 

[Otter]

I've honestly never noticed any of these noises, I have good hearing so it's not a deafness thing, I'm sitting in Weymouth harbour right now in. F5, I hear wind in the ringing and if I try and be aware of it I can hear the halyards clanking and now I mention it the main traveller squeaks but I'm never normally aware of these things going on. Does that mean I'm relaxed or the just don't care?

 

[duncan99210]

We twist out main halyard around the topping lift a few times before tensioning. Works fine.

+1 never encountered the problem until we got our current boat but simply wrapping the main halyard once round the topping lift cures both the humming topping lift and banging halyard.

When we lived aboard in Barcelona we encountered a truly annoying variation on the theme of a banging halyard. It was the rattling mainsail furler..... A boat on the other side of the pontoon had taken his furling mainsail down for the winter and gone back to Madrid (or wherever): when the wind got above gentle, the loose furling mechanism produced a clanging fit to keep the devil awake. In the end I was reduced to passing a loop of mousing line round the wretched thing, hauling it as far up the mast as possible before putting it under tension back to the end of the boom. Blessed silence returned. No idea what the owner though of this modification to his rigging, as we left in the spring before he returned to his boat......