Fixing Mast Noise

[Warren Casey]

My mast bangs with a vengeance! :eek: Their must be a few loose wires inside. I don't want to pull it to fix it - too costly. I thought that I could just spray some foam in the mast. Has anyone fixed a noisy mast that way? I know it is not the best way - but the mast is old and some day I might replace it with a new one. It will cost just about the same to buy a new one as it would cost to repair and repaint the old. I got a quote on the repainting from my yard - around $3500 out and in. A brand new mast from LeFiell would be around $4000. Or could I just spray a little foam around?? Bad idea

Just spray happy, Cheers, Warren

 

[ref_123]

May not be a wire...

Warren,

we had a similar problem. Found out it was not a wire but a piece of a standing rigging that was a bit loose up high... Painting is a good idea though .

Regards,
Stanly

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Price seems a bit steep!

I would first look at the wires going into the mast step and give them each a light tug to see if there's any slack. You might be able to take up the slack on the loose wires and see if that makes any difference. As far as the painting of your mast, that seems a bit steep. I know you have a 32 and I have a 27, but I was able to replace all my standing rigging as well as the wiring and have the mast and boom painted with LP. I also had a deck organizer plate fabricated and some repair work done on the boom. All that work cost less than $2,800.00. I used a rigger, not a yard to do the work. I have heard of foam in the mast, but the purpose of the foam was more to keep the mast afloat in case of a knock down.

 

[Mitch]

Not sure if your 32 is the same, but on my 27 I suffered from the same slapping noise. Lying there in the v berth I would nearly lose my mind with the loud SLAP SLAP SLAP that would happen when the boat rocked even a little bit. The aggravation of pulling the mast was nothing compared to the torture of listening to the SLAP. Once I had the mast down I discovered that the (original, I think) wires to the masthead, steaming light, and antenna ran the full lenghth of the mast with nothing to prevent their movement but four or five pieces of foam the size of large sponges that had been jammed in there. Over time the foam blocks had all soaked up water, turned into mildew farms, and fallen to the base of the mast leaving the wires free to SLAP. I replaced the wires and when rerunning them in the mast made little wire tie "spiders" that kept them off the sides of the spar. What you do is take three wire ties and zip them together around the wire bundle and leave the tails uncut. Space these spiders every three or five feet and they are sufficient to stop the SLAP. It has worked like a charm for us.
I would not recommend the spray in foam. If you ever needed to get the wires out again it would be a nightmare and it is unlikely that you could spray in enough, or at frequent enough intervals to stop the slap in the first place.
Good luck.