Slapping Of Water Under Stern

Don't antifoul in that area; after a few weeks the assorted mussels, tunicates and weeds will add an appropriate acoustic barrier.
 
buy some cheap hollow foam swimming noodles e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Swimming-...s-Post-/271876591281?var=&hash=item3f4d1b8eb1 thread them on a rope and run around the stern of the boat


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My present boat is my first with an aft master cabin, and the first year I was quite bothered by the water slapping against the counter and it even interfered with my sleep.

By Year 2 or 3, I was already used to it and it stopped bothering me.

Now in Year 7 with this boat, I even kind of like it -- I associate it with the sun dappling the headliner reflected through the hull ports and the feeling of gentle rocking at anchor which I like so much.

So one solution, maybe not applicable to everyone, is just to live with it.
Worked for me too, quite like the noise now 3 years on with my current boat.
 
A cheap version of the second linked product could be made from one of those high density foam mats used for a matress when camping or an exercise mat.
Cut it to shape to fit under the stern and fit holes for lanyards and haul it up under the counter. It seems to function as an insulation and cushion.
The other option to try is a "noodle' as they are called here a long tube of foam which might break up the wave as it arrives. good luck olewill
 
We made one: pool noodles threaded through a 5 mm line.
Tried it in all combinations, and tensions. Didn't do a thing.

As suggested somewhere in this thread.: earplugs. The soft kind you get in boots . I cut about a third off so they don't protrude, allowing me to sleep on my side.
Also as we are now somewhere hot, we have fans above the berths. The drone from those masks most noises.
On a final point, you do eventually just get used to it.
 
I'm sorry, but I have to say that there is something a bit pathetic about this thread. It's a bit like being out sailing, and complaining that the wind's blowing. Ye gods!
 
I was going to say what a good idea.

Have to admit I haven't tried it Nigel, just a suggestion from the owner's association website - maybe it is particular to a given hull design; cheap enough to try.

NormanS - I see where you're coming from but not everyone likes every single aspect of sailing. Also often its about keeping the other half sufficiently onside!
 
Personally I quite like the odd slap in bed at night !!!:encouragement:

But if that worries you then try sleeping in a clinker boat like a Stella. Waking early morning to a windless misty day at anchor is shear bliss after the noise the night before.
 
I'm sorry, but I have to say that there is something a bit pathetic about this thread. It's a bit like being out sailing, and complaining that the wind's blowing. Ye gods!

I think that is a bit unkind. Aft cabins are a more or less modern innovation and worked well enough on older designs. However, later hulls have been designed more with performance in mind and the wider sterns with a flat run aft have given rise to a problem which the designers have chosen not to address. Little short of full anaesthesia would allow me to get to sleep in some boats. You can hear the water making a din as it slaps against the stern and echoes within. It simply isn't practical to moor the boat head to wind on all occasions, and sometimes the wind will change from one day to the next. Perhaps the Bavaria type rear flap should be extended so that it can be dropped down into the water?
 
I think that is a bit unkind. Aft cabins are a more or less modern innovation and worked well enough on older designs. However, later hulls have been designed more with performance in mind and the wider sterns with a flat run aft have given rise to a problem which the designers have chosen not to address. Little short of full anaesthesia would allow me to get to sleep in some boats. TYou can hear the water making a din as it slaps against the stern and echoes within. It simply isn't practical to moor the boat head to wind on all occasions, and sometimes the wind will change from one day to the next. Perhaps the Bavaria type rear flap should be extended so that it can be dropped down into the water?

Unkind? Possibly. There was supposed to be a smiley at the end of my post, but still......
I would quibble at your assertion that aft cabins are a modern invention. Think of Nelson's Victory etc. My own boat, built 1992, has an aft cabin, indeed that's where we sleep every night, but as we invariably anchor, we don't suffer the life-threatening noise of wavelets lapping on the hull.:D As for any guests in the forward cabin, I don't know how they get a wink of sleep.:rolleyes:
 
Unkind? Possibly. There was supposed to be a smiley at the end of my post, but still......
I would quibble at your assertion that aft cabins are a modern invention. Think of Nelson's Victory etc. My own boat, built 1992, has an aft cabin, :

I say more or less modern because apart from centre-cockpit boats, few average-sized cruising boats were sold with aft cabins, more often having quarter-berths which were mostly used for stowage. I don't think we saw aft cabins much until boats like Gibseas started using them in the late '70s or possibly later. No-one owned a boat bigger than about 30 foot at the time, apart from the odd Dutchman in an HR 352.
 
Anchor, then you'll be head to wind.

Not necessarily - you may be head to tide and bum into the wind.

I find bottom-slap more of a problem at anchor, not less, because the waves are likely to be bigger than in a marina and hence the slaps are louder.

Pete
 
we don't suffer the life-threatening noise of wavelets lapping on the hull.

I'm not talking about wavelets lapping gently on the hull. That doesn't keep me awake at night, and in the morning sounds quite pleasant.

We've had bottom-slap before that was so loud that we had to raise our voices to talk over it, in the saloon. In the aft cabin, the bunk shudders with each hit. I've had quieter and smoother sleeping conditions (in the same bunk) under sail halfway across the Channel.

It was a problem of 1990s AWBs where the transom was just above the waterline, with a flat surface underneath. Older boats with either a proper counter or an immersed transom suffered much less, and I suspect modern boats with the waterline pushed right to the ends have less of a problem too.

Pete
 
Our 90's AWB also suffered from this but we don't have a problem with it now due to either:

getting used to it as we now live aboard

OR

the raised waterline as we now live aboard
 
I'm not talking about wavelets lapping gently on the hull. That doesn't keep me awake at night, and in the morning sounds quite pleasant.

We've had bottom-slap before that was so loud that wte had to raise our voices to talk over it, in the saloon. In the aft cabin, the bunk shudders with each hit. I've had quieter and smoother sleeping conditions (in the same bunk) under sail halfway across the Channel.

It was a problem of 1990s AWBs where the transom was just above the waterline, with a flat surface underneath. Older boats with either a proper counter or an immersed transom suffered much less, and I suspect modern boats with the waterline pushed right to the ends have less of a problem too.

Pete

I'm not sure if I should respond to your stories about bottom slapping. :D
 
Yoga mat - 15mm thick. Tie rope on each corner and secure it under the stern - you may need to cut it to go around the rudder shaft - works for me- and if it needs a bit more - add another :-) - simples.
"borrow" one from wife / girlfriend / next door / boyfriend / whatever - that way you can see how well it works for your boat
Fair winds
John
 
With my old Moody 44 and being a v. light sleeper I never really found a satisfactory solution having tried various actual products. I vowed never to get a boat where I have to sleep in the back again. Interestingly when you go to SIBS you can be on seriously expensive "luxury" yachts and they still suffer this, so really surprised manufacturers have not addressed it.
 
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