Clanging Internal Halyards

[druid]

Hi
My Ontario 32 has internal halyards. But, no matter how I set the halyards (tight, very tight, loose...) they clang horribly at the slightest movement of the boat. It's barely noticable above deck, but inside at night when I'm trying to sleep...

I don't remember this happening on my Catalina 36 that had internal halyards.

Any suggestions?

druid
"Wind Drift" Ontario 32

 

[JoeWhite]

You may be hearing the electrical wires that are inside the mast. One solution is to use tie-wraps every 5 feet and not trim the ends. Place 3 of them at the same position about 120 degrees apart so that the wire bundle will stay away from the mast. You will have to remove the mast and the wires and place the tie wraps and then reinsert them.

 

[alexco38]

My friend's Catalina 36 has a conduit inside the mast for electrical wires.

 

[JoyRide28]

I had that once on a charter boat and was able to actually see into a spare halyard exit slot, high on the mast, that it was the coax (antenna) cable banging. There's nothing that annoys me more, or faster, than unnecessary clanging and banging on board! Ask my wife. I'll spend the end of every day listening and hunting and fixing them all! I was actually able to cure that one by hooking the wires with a piece of bent wire (like a coat hanger), then fastening the wire to a larger than the hole diameter piece of wood, at the exit plate, and covering it with duct tape. Not the most beautiful solution, but it quieted the stupid thing.

 

[shemandr]

Some people stuff a sponge up into the mast. It does impact the ease of raising/lowering the halyard some.
I did the zip tie thing on my Ranger 29. It worked but I could still hear the zip ties rub on the mast - much less annoying than the clanging. I think conduit is best if you can do it.

 

[Joe Blizzard]

My friend's Catalina 36 has a conduit inside the mast for electrical wires.

I stuffed several pool noodles (1001 uses) into my mast, with the wire passing through the hole in the center of the noodles. Sort of a soft conduit. I don't have internal halyards, though.

 

[druid]

Yeah, I was thinking it was either the wiring or the VHF antenna cable. I'm not sure I want to re-wire the mast at this point, but I'm intrigued by the pool-noodle idea. I'll see if I can get a look up the inside of the mast to see if some sort of "soft conduit" would work without interfering with the halyards.

And JoyRide, I'm right there with you! I've spent many nights mostly-naked in the middle of the night, running around the deck trying to identify that scrape, or thunk, or rattle, or...

Thanks for the input, guys!
druid

 

[Bill Roosa]

Try taking the halyard end to the safety rail. Gets it away from the mast altogether.

 

[capta]

We had that last year in Bequia. A boat anchored near us and we were quite displeased that he hadn't tied off his halyards until we realized it was the wires in his mast. If it was that unpleasant for us, several hundred feet away, I can't imagine what it must have been like inside!
I would think that the expanding foam injected at several points would do the trick, shifting the halyards as it dries so they make a hole, might do. I'd try it in a large pipe or equivalent with a line through it as a test. Might be a bit of clean up on the halyards, though?

 

[Doc_holiday]

Yeah, till you need new halyards run through that mess. The noise is most likely wiring or antenna coax as others have said. I have a problem with the same. My halyards are external and I keep them off the mast. I am going to use noodles next time I take the mast down (trailerable).