noisy mast

[romany123]

I have acquired a new boat and the noise from the (I assume) electrical wires inside the mast is driving me nuts.....any Ideas?
Thanks in anticipation

<hr width=100% size=1>Dave

 

[steve28]

what we have done with all the boats in our club is to take the masts down, remove the sole (foot), then use the blue water pipe that is normaly put in the ground to domestic supplies.
it helps to use a heat gun and put some slow bends in.
this will involve attaching to the electrical wires a length of cord (the length of the mast) this is then put through the pipe and then pulled gently untill the pipe is completly in the mast.
if you have a bolt through at the crosstrees this may need to be removed as some of the cables may go one side and some the other.
i got 3 normal sized cables in one pipe.
a reel of pipe cost 12.70 plus vat.



steve

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Avocet]

I tried that spray foam you get from DIY shops. I sprayed some in via a small hole at three points along the length of the mast. It worked but one day some kind sould snapped my VHF arial when the mast was lying alongside the boat and it took me a week to get the wires out! My next attempt was to put three large cable ties round the bundle of wires every few feet so that each group of three formed a sort of "spider" round the cables to keep them from slapping against the inside of the mast. This has worked very well for three seasons now and is dirt cheap and very light.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[vyv_cox]

My mast can be extremely noisy at times but the source is definitely not the electric cables, which run down a dedicated conduit alongside the mainsail slot. I must assume that the halyards make the noise, in which case the only action is to insert PVC foam internal sleeve. This is virtually impossible on a made-up mast because the PVC catches on all the fittings. So I have learned to live with the noise.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[romany123]

Thanks guys
vyv You have the same mast as me I assume, Sadler 34 so I guess mine must be the same as your problem. I tried tightening up every halyard I have that goes through the mast but I still get that clunking noise inside drives me nuts trying to get to sleep

<hr width=100% size=1>Dave

 

[vyv_cox]

Yes. Especially at anchor or on a swinging mooring. We always replace our halyards with 6 mm polypropylene over winter and even those knock to some extent.

We often use ear plugs for sleeping aboard. Great for on passage but also to help ignore the mast noises, not to mention the all-night discos at Hellevoetsluis.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[mhouse]

I have found on my Dehler that if you tighten the back stay to bend the mast the tapping stops but you then have to attach the spinnaker pole up haul to the bow to stop the mast itself vibrating

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MedMan]

Butterflies - that\'s the answer!

Its a pretty fair bet it is the electrical wires. They are usually run in a conduit, but the conduit is often fairly large to allow for many cables.

Get some scrap 3/4" foam and cut it into chunks about 3/4" square and 3" long. Now get a length of thin but strong cord the length of your mast plus, say, 5 yards. Tie it around the middle of each of the chunks of foam. As you tie it tight and squeeze in the foam each one becomes a 'butterfly'. Tie in a butterfly every 18" or so. You now have a long string of butterflies as long as your mast with a tail at each end.

Send a messenger through your conduit - as thick and as strong as possible. Now use the messenger to pull through the string of butterflies.

I've done it twice on two different boats. It works a treat>

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/yachtretreat/>http://www.geocities.com/yachtretreat/</A>

 

[longmoor]

I cannot understand how wires inside a mast can make a noise. What can cause them to move? I can understand halyards being blown by the wind and I can understand a fully tensioned backstay vibrating in wind, but wires inside??

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Avocet]

Yep! You'd better believe it! They can make a terrible slapping noise! My mast doesn't have conduits in it - the wires just run straight down the middle. I've no internal halyards - all external and I tend to tie them to the shrouds with bungee elastics to shut them up.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Guest]

Re: Butterflies - that\'s the answer!

brilliant, never heard that solution before.

<hr width=100% size=1>Barry (yacht Mithril)

 

[romany123]

Re: Butterflies - that\'s the answer!

Thanks for that medman.
The boat is coming out on monday so I will have time to have a look. You just fall asleep then ...slap slap slap, it stops you are lying there for it to start again, all quite, drift off again....slap slap slap. I'm sure the bloody thing knows when you nod off, its like a persistent puppy yapping for attention. You can strangle a puppy but masts are made of sterner stuff lol

<hr width=100% size=1>Dave

 

[MedMan]

Re: Butterflies - that\'s the answer!

One further thought. The actual size of the butterflies needs to be adjusted to match the size of the conduit. Too large and you can't pull them through. Too small and they don't do their job and/or tear too easily and so fall apart.

Good luck.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/yachtretreat/>http://www.geocities.com/yachtretreat/</A>

 

[romany123]

Re: Butterflies - that\'s the answer!

Thanks for that Med
Have a good day

<hr width=100% size=1>Dave

 

[oldharry]

Re: Rattling cables - another solution...

Catch the offending wires every 3 feet of their length up the inside of the mast with those ratchet cable ties - the largest you can get. Try and arrange the tails so eah lies roughly 120 degrees to the one before. Hey presto - silent mast! Dead easy to wihdraw for replacement, no intereference with anything else inside the spar, and easy enough to add another cable with its own tails later if you want.

Works a treat on my boat.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[romany123]

Re: Rattling cables - another solution...

Thanks Harry
will look at that to Regards



<hr width=100% size=1>Dave

 

[Guest]

Tell mine then !!

My alloy mast has wires inside and with any movement however slight ...... they rattle !!

Remember that a mast is a tall narrow item that only a very small amount of movement of a boat will start internals striking the sides.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Guest]

Great if you have conduit

Many boats do not have conduit ....... the wires free in the mast.

Having spen many happy hours trying to get new cables past Spreader fastenings etc. I know !!!!


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[MrFish]

I had the same problem, which had me baffled for months. I tightened halyards until they played like a harp, and still the rattle from the inside of the mast. Then one evening I was motoring into the marina just after dusk - and I noticed lightening flashes above - sparks from the spreaders!! The electrical wires run in a conduit (aluminium tube) riveted to the mast inside - a section had broken loose, rattling against the mast until wearing through the insulation and revealing all in a brilliant flash. No easy fix for me - pull the mast and recondition, rewire etc - not much cost (rigger to help lower, advise on work to be done, and re-rigg mast) but plenty of my time to do the work Quite within the scope of your average handyman. Look for poped out/pulled rivets up the mast.
Cheers

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MainlySteam]

Conduits coming loose must be more common than I thought - or maybe it is a NZ thing! A friend has his mast down at the moment in a 45 approx foot boat in Wellington for exactly the same reason (he did not get to the sparks stage though) so it is a rattle cause worth keeping in mind. Like yours, his conduit was riveted to the inside through the mast extrusion wall.

John


<hr width=100% size=1>