Slap, Crackle, Pop

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
Is your boat noisy?

Between slapping halyards, gurgling drains, a clanking keel, popping stringers, and creaking cabinets, do you need ear plugs to hear the radio?

How have you fixed the slaps, crackles, and pops, or was it easier to just live with it?

Share your noises and mitigation strategies here!

jackhammer.jpg
 
Oct 24, 2010
2,405
Hunter 30 Everett, WA
Either tightening halyards or tying them off is our routine. Still when the wind picks up our marina tends to get really noisy. Having said that when we are on board we are usually away from the marina.

Ken
 
Jul 1, 2017
64
Hunter 356 Brightlingsea
In mast furling is great.......no slapping halyards. However, Hunter Legend 356 has a very small wedge under the sugar scoop which the waves slap under....it can get very noisy if the waves/wind are in the wrong direction. I have developed my own "slapper stopper"....using two self inflating camping mattresses fixed end to end in a slight V, tied to the stanchions so that the mattresses are held just against the underside of the stern. Works very well. This photo shows the Mk1 version, which was two Lilo's arranged in the same manner, it was a real pain to inflate them, and easy to puncture them, hence the Mk2 version.
Neil
IMG_0774.JPG
 
Oct 29, 2005
2,355
Hunter Marine 326 303 Singapore
I'm not sure what twos you are talking about, Lilos or Lulus but I like to know the twos under the boom. Why is the mainsheet routed to the two blocks this way? Seems odd? Is that how the Hunter manual does it?
Is the one on the arch a Becket block?

Ken Y
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
I can't stand noises that I don't know where they come from. I hunt them down.

For halyard slap, I tighten them and then tie a line pulling them away from the mast attaching to the side stays. Anything inside my boat moving and making noise gets made so it wont - how depends upon what and where. I use Gorilla Grip shelf liners often used in home kitchens on shelves and in drawers on the boat. They really help keep down movement.

dj
 

DArcy

.
Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
On my C&C 27 the previous owner put in sliding cabinet doors for the shelves behind the saloon settees which look very nice since they were just open shelves before. The only problem is they make a noise as they flop back and forth in their tracks when the boat rolled at anchor. The tracks were wider than they needed to be, which made the slide nicely, but also allowed a lot of play. I would pop the bottom of one on each side out and put it in the other track to wedge them in.
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PSR

.
Sep 17, 2013
117
Catalina 27 4743 MB Yacht Harbor, Richmond CA
When my '81 C27 was new to me and was in a shop for big work in 2013-14, I disliked the sponge butterflies stuck up the mast. They were pretty grundgy. So I pulled them out. I ended up with mast wiring slap when she was rigged and back in the water. So in 2018, I had Bay Marine install a conduit for the wiring while the mast was pulled for new standing rigging. It cost about $600 or so, and now the mast is quiet. I don't know how well the butterflies worked before, and I don't know why there is no halyard slap in the mast now-but, happily, there isn't any.
 
Jul 1, 2017
64
Hunter 356 Brightlingsea
Lulus: Wife and her sister.......
Main sheet to blocks on the arch are standard fit on the Legend, it keeps the boom away from everyone: safe. On a close reach you can really pull the boom down to the car and use the traveler as your "main sheet". The main is way too big for the boat, and unless the wind is really light I am usually reefed about 75%, more as the wind picks up. It's all a compromise, but I love the in-mast-furling.
PSR: can you not use some self adhesive felt strip to go into the upper groove to hold the panels?
 
Jul 1, 2017
64
Hunter 356 Brightlingsea
We rented a boat in Greece a while back, first night massive thunderstorms and heavy rain......next day I could swear I could hear water dripping in the boat....couldn't find anything so gave up.....next day at a new mooring sounded even worse.....couldn't find anything.....driving me mad! Then reasoned it couldn't be water dripping after 3 days. Did some research, it is the sound of "Pistol Shrimp", like a popping noise intermittently.
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Outside of stopping the obvious annoyances like halyards slapping, booms swinging, locker doors knocking, I relish the other sounds a boat makes under gentle sail or anchored (docks don't often sound very nice).

I expect, even enjoy a few squeaks from a boat as old as mine. Water going by the hull, both under sail and at anchor in our tidal range, makes wonderful sounds. Occasionally some being down there, will make a noise on the hull or a nearby swishing sound.

An entire world outside the hull becomes audible once you and the boat have been still long enough. Nature comes alive then. Boats are escapes from houses along streets and roads on land where man made noises block natural sounds.

Feast for the ears.

Cabot Cove HT anchored (1 of 1).jpg
 

DArcy

.
Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
can you not use some self adhesive felt strip to go into the upper groove to hold the panels?
That would have worked great for the rattling sliding doors. I just sold that boat, wish I had seen it years ago :cuss:
 
Oct 6, 2007
1,023
Hunter H30 1982 Chicago IL
Halyards have never been an issue. They’re internal and I just secure the shackle end at the toe rail or at the end of the boom for the main halyard. Had a flag halyard shackle though that was persistently plucking a shroud like a guitar string on windy nights. I eventually solved that one by isolating the two with a spliced loop of 1/4” line. Fleece covers solved fender squeak noise. I’ve tracked down countless other noises in the middle of the night; locker doors moving, dishes rattling, fender pump rolling, dodger strap clips rattling, genoa sheets bouncing against shrouds, slack forward spring line slapping the hull, etc.
I am beginning to suspect that whenever I go out sailing on another boat, Dalliance gets jealous and expresses it with new noises to keep me awake.
 
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May 7, 2011
205
Catalina 30 Lake Lanier
My biggest gripe is halyards left to flog the mast. In my experience, tightening the halyards does not work in every wind condition. On our vessel (1985 Catalina 30) the halyards for the main and drifter are run to a loop on the cabin top handrail far enough back/forward so they do not hit the spreaders either. (Roller furler on the jib.) Running them to the life lines works too, but makes going forward a bother . On my old O'Day 23 the halyards were all external, so I threw them around the spreaders before tightening them. The next biggest issue is when the mast pumps. When it does I adjust the tension on the backstay to change the harmonic.
 
May 8, 2004
46
Hunter 386 New Smyrna Beach, Fl.
In mast furling is great.......no slapping halyards. However, Hunter Legend 356 has a very small wedge under the sugar scoop which the waves slap under....it can get very noisy if the waves/wind are in the wrong direction. I have developed my own "slapper stopper"....using two self inflating camping mattresses fixed end to end in a slight V, tied to the stanchions so that the mattresses are held just against the underside of the stern. Works very well. This photo shows the Mk1 version, which was two Lilo's arranged in the same manner, it was a real pain to inflate them, and easy to puncture them, hence the Mk2 version.
Neil
View attachment 174418
I owned a product years ago called Slapper Stopper, but they don't seem to be available anymore. How did you connect the mattresses together? I
 
Jan 18, 2016
782
Catalina 387 Dana Point
Nobody should need to put up with banging halyards. Jib is furled so that one's good. Main gets tied back on the boom and snugged. Spin is tossed around a spreader and hooked to a chainplate. No tink-tink-tink-tink when it's windy.

I've unfortunately got that thing in my head that makes be think that no sailboat should have banging halyards. Obviously not everybody in my marina shares my belief.

There are 2 sources of boat noise that drive me nuts:

1. Generators sitting on decks of boats in an anchorage turning fuel into noise. I've seen been forced to endure 3000+ watt open frame contractor jobbies running all day long.

2. Jet Skis.