Lynch Mob Coming Soon!

[RoyS]

Moved to a new marina. Several boats down from us is a newish Catalina 40. That boat sounds like a church bell just after the war ends, but it never stops! It has in mast main reefing with the mainsail presently rolled up inside, except for about one foot exposed. I know sometimes a slapping halyard can be annoying, but this is ridiculous. If you owned this boat you could never sleep on it. I will wait to watch the lynch mob from my good vantage point two boats down. BTW most of our neighbors have power boats and I doubt much sympathy for a clanging sailboat. Is this racket normal?

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

It's probably either the main halyard that needs tightening or the spinnaker halyard that needs tightening. Someone should ask them in a nice way to do so. Nobody wants to cause problems for the neighbors, but sometimes they don't hear the sounds. If they are not there, the ask the marina staff to go on the boat and fix the problem.

 

[DayDreamer41]

I have done it and I would do it again, if someone leaves their boat with a clanging halyard I will put a bungie cord on it to stop the clanging, I figure for the cost of a bungie its worth it, that and when the owner sees it a major hint is given.

 

[Monterey385]

Wrap the halyards around the spreaders and slightly loosen the outhaul. I have found the outhaul will bang loudly on the boom if it's too tight and the wind is strong.

 

[RoyS]

DayDreamer, this is not a simple external slapping halyard. This is a steady clank and bang. If you took a hammer and banged on the mast with the intent to make noise you would have it. I once had another neighbor with an internal furling main. His boat clanged away until he installed his sail and then I never heard it again. This boat has the sail installed and it still clangs. Maybe the halyards are loose but I would have thought the owner would have fixed that. He was there all day with the noise. Lynch mob coming for sure.

 

[RoyS]

Maybe he has an old window sash weight hanging about midway down inside the mast on one of those halyards. I am about 20 miles away at the moment and I cannot hear it.

 

[Ron20324]

...I would have thought the owner would have fixed that. He was there all day with the noise. QUOTE]

So why complain to US if you did not complain to HIM? We're not gonna fix it.

 

[justsomeguy]

So why complain to US if you did not complain to HIM? We're not gonna fix it.

It's the internet. A place for rants.

 

[rpwillia]

Get him one of these. I have one and they work.
http://sailcare.com/mobri-servosilencer.shtml

 

[jerry]

Reason for the clanging noise.
The halyard is loose causing the furling mechanism inside the mast to hit the side of the mast causing the clanging. I like to leave my main halyard loose when not in use to ease pressure on the sheave. I do put some tension on it to stop the noise. When the sail is removed for the winter, I put some pipe insulation in it to keep the furler from hitting the mast. The procedure is to put the insulation around the furler extrusion BELOW the top swivel pushing it about half way up making sure to tie a downhaul to the swivel. To remove the insulation pull on the downhaul to bring the swivel and insulation back down for removal.

 

[capta]

Ours will do that when there's no sail in there, but it shouldn't do it when the sail is rolled up on the foil in the mast. We can stop it very easily by taking the head bearing up the mast a few feet and tighten it against a line to the gooseneck.
Just wait until the wind comes from a bit abaft the beam of that boat. Think of blowing across the mouth of a beer bottle. Ours would howl so loudly I could hear it on the street of City Island, NY, quite some distance from the marina. Fortunately for us and our neighbors, the PO had a cover for the slot made from a couple of old factory machine drive belts, which completely silences it.
It rarely happens when we're on the pick, only in swirling winds of a few anchorages, and if it does, it only lasts a few seconds. In theory, though we haven't ever tested it out since we have a Rocna, were we to drag, it would howl loudly enough to wake us from a sound sleep.

 

[RoyS]

Thank you all for your responses. I was hoping that this was not an unsolvable problem that was typical for these in mast furling systems. And, Ron20324, I was not complaining to you to fix this, only sharing the moment with a bit of humor and asking the question, "Is this normal?"