Noisy Partners

[Patches]

No not that kind!

Now that I have your attention, I had a rigger on my boat today to take a look at the rig and replace a problematic pin I noticed when I was aloft last week.  One of the things I wanted him to look at was the mast partners on my boat, and the fact that they make small "popping noises" when you walk around on deck in the vicinity, and also under sail sometimes when the sails are full.  I also had fore and aft wedges--very thin--fall out, leaving only the side wedges (thicker) in place.

After tuning the rig, the noises remained. There is daylight all around the mast within the partners, except for the wedges. He messed about with the turnbuckle below, which essentially holds down the deck in that area when you tighten the shrouds.  No relief.

He thinks the sound is the wedges themselves when greater force is applied through contact with the partners--whether due to someone on deck, or the rig loading up.  Coincidentally, today he worked on another Catalina 34 after my boat, same vintage, and it had the same exact issue!

Anyone dealt with this issue before?  Is there a recommended fix for eliminating this?  Spartite?  Other?

As always, interested to hear your responses.

Patches   

[Stu Jackson]

sure, do two things:  get a rigger who knows what he's doing and get bigger wedges.  Easy, soft wood like pine works great.  Make your own and learn how to do it.  IIRC, Don Casey's Good Old Boat book may have a discussion of this.  The turnbuckle at the partners should make the noise go away.

[Patches]

Update:  The noise at the partners on my boat turned out to be the wooden wedge on the starboard side.  While cleaning off the old silicone underneath the removed mast boot, I removed this wedge--which was in tight.

Result:  quiet. completely.  Had nothing to do with the turnbuckle underneath the deck.  Before, every time I walked on the deck near the mast it made a sound in the partners, and sometimes there would be a "pop" due to either increase in heat or increase in wind.

Will be going to rubber wedges temporarily before switching to Spartite.  On my riggers recommendation, I need to replace the backstay lowers where they fork toward the transom, and a new toggle needs to be added to my ancient Harken RF to lengthen the forestay a bit.  Will switch to Spartite at that time.

Patches

[Ron Hill]

Patches : I went with 6 wedges rather than the factory 4.  Made my own out of pressure treated lumber - slightly larger than the factory size.

A thought