HAUNTED C34

[day dreamer]

HAUNTED BOAT
   


This is my second night of very little sleep. The cause of my malaise is a mysterious intermittent undescribable noise.

I first noticed it last week at a different marina, I haven t heard it yet on the hook.

I ve disconnected shore and battery power – and it occurs with no wind or swell.

Do hulls expand and contract ?   Because the noise is impossible to pinpoint. Sometimes starboard sometimes port, usually midships. 

Now the boat is new to me so zincs maybe shot – related ? Am I being zapped electronically ? 

so hard to convey the sound ...   It s like the hull is being hit by a salvo of stress fractures ... for 4 - 6 seconds , then it will stop for 20 and continue ..  and it s so loud !  I moved my boat so as not to bother a neighbouring slip.

I m at a loss, fatigued and perplexed !

[day dreamer]

Anyone have any clues  ??    I m being serious ...    it s really  weird  !

[Ken Krawford]

I'd be willing to bet that you're hearing "critters" nibbling on the bottom growth.  That would explain why you hear it is one location and not in another.  Just a wild guess.

[chuck53]

Ken's idea was my first thought as well.   You say how loud it was...I'm betting if you went up on deck, you barely would have heard it if at all.  Sounds can magnify inside the boat.

[day dreamer]

txs to ken and chuck for trying ,  but defintiely not critters --    the sound is nothing like that ,,,   and so difficult to describe ..  but it s how I imagine a tensed fiberglass rope  might sound just before snapping -

it s  not regular, but in salvos,  magnifies  inside the boat ,  but can still be heard topsides, I have no power to the boat, no  wind at all - so not rigging related.

now in the morning it s  stopped - lord knows why ... 


and no .  ...    don t think I m  going crazy ..  but another sleepless night might do it    !! 


any wild guesses  ??   I have to solve this  !

[Jim Hardesty]

My first thought was also "critters" but you rule that out.  My next total quess is a dry dirty rudder bearing. I say this because it's the only odd sound that I've had on my C34.  It was a squeeky tearing sound.  You could try next time the sound happened turn and lock the wheel near the stop.  My fix was removing the emergency rudder cover, flushing with fresh water the bearing area, then replacing the o-ring seal on the emergency rudder cover.  
Luck to you on your "Ghost Busting"  
Jim

[day dreamer]

ghost busting ....  yes

I ll  lock the wheel  tonight ..  see if helps ...   but last night it was too still to move the rudder ...

and the sound is not a creaking ...    more like a straining  banging sound ...   a local guy says probably  critters ...  but they d  need big teeth to be so loud ....  even ear plugs barely help  !!

a mystery ---

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Have you recently changed your bilge pump? Some of the new ones give a short boost of power every few minutes to check  for water rather than using a float switch. Drove me crazy on a friends boat one night.

[day dreamer]

defintely not that ...    I m  gonna  ask  more locals  about  the critters  ---

[day dreamer]

ok  locals say there is a fish that could be responsible ....   txs

[lazybone]

But

They only come out at night and they know you are in there.
Eventually, when you least expect it, they will chew their way through and find you.

Haunted indeed.

[Fred Koehlmann]

Last season we had this sound of someone tapping our hull while we in the marina in the evenings... almost like golf balls on the hull. Turned out we had a snapping turtle taking a short cut under us to and from his feeding grounds and he'd bang his nobby shell against the hull. Sound was realy loud. His was a big guy too!

[Steve Sayian]

In Martha's Vineyard there are eels that make an extremely loud clicking sound.  We thought they were little crabs feasting on the bottom growth of the boat, until a 'local' told us what they were. They would be intermittent and not in every mooring spot.  The live in the mud and are not in the Boston Harbor area.  Understand you ruled out critters, but there may be all manner of local aquatic life that may be down there.

[Terry Forshier]

Could your stays or shrouds be too tight and flexing with the temperature? Maybe they are moving the mast or maybe they are actually stressing the fiberglass? you might check their tension with a gauge. It appears from your posts the sounds are coming from stress on the boat somewhere.
Having lived in a house in a cemetery for many years (no more though) I know "haunted" and I don't think this sounds like it is a haunted boat. ( that is another story)
Terry

[stevewitt1]

Hmmmmm,

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call ... The C34 Zone.

Steve


visit us at: www.ocontoyachtclub.com  and  www.warbirdsix.com