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Sound Proofing Help

Steve

Member III
My 35-3 has minimal sound proofing overall with material located on the removable top and face cover only. Consequently she is rather noisy in the cabin and less but annoying in the cockpit. The port and starboard sides of the engine compartment have absolutely no padding material. Here we have assorted pumps mounted such as the three water pumps and on the opposite side the fuel pump and various wiring harnesses mounted directly on the interior of the teak surfaces leaving very little room to “pad” this area. Of course, the aft is wide open into the area with the water heater sits under the cockpit.

Any ideas or experience on how to mitigate the noise? Did the orginal 35-3's come through with some sound proof materials on the compartment sides???

Steve 35-3
:confused:
 

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Jim Baldwin

Member II
Noise Control

I am no expert but I know who is. The big power boaters take noise control very seriously. Riding on top of a pair of big Cats or Cummins deisels is no joke. The problem is, even the little auxilary deisel can drive you (and your cook), overboard. An engine compartment with no sound barrier, acts like the body of a guitar. actually enhancing and amplifing the sound. So... Install something. Peel-and-stick noise panels can be installed outside the compartment, against the fire walls, under the cockpit seating and sole or wherever you want. (West Marine product #216866) or similiar stuff. Perhaps you might wrap the wet exhaust hoses with insullation or split-foam tubeing. (Is this a good idea? I am not sure.) Spray-foam might be used here-and-there, but I think, a little is better than a lot. I am told, much of the deisel engine noise actually comes from the intake manifold. Power boats often have external baffeled intake vents along with sound-deading combustion-air hose. Which brings up another point. Your engine must breath and be well ventillated so keep that in mind what ever you do and don't forget... You can just say no. After all, you have a sail boat. GO SAIL.
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Doubt It -

Mine's the same way. What's your engine compartment look like, Ray?

//sse
 

cruis-n

Member II
I stopped by the boat this afternoon to check. Sorry to say my 1984 E35-3 #193 is the same although the water pumps are under the sink. The PO had them mounted on the side of the waste can locker and they really reverberated.

I had not noticed an excessive amount of noise underway. I do have a smallish foarm air breather cover, but I don't think it helps much. There is a bit more noise then it's not there and the covers are off. My $0.02
 

Steve

Member III
Thanks for the info folks. Perhaps I need to weigh the cost benefits of stick and peel sound material versus just leaving it as is. Sounds like the original 35-3 came through with just the front and top cover insulated. Of course, we have all seen new boats with every inch of their compartments wrapped as if specked for the space program…. I do agree with Ray that the 3 pumps mounted on the starboard side do echo. Moving them under sink maybe too congested for me, but leaves a nice clean surface to insulate. Again, a cost and aggravation factor to consider against the benefits. I think the foam spray is a good idea into areas that you don’t see or access, but it’s a mess, you always use just a touch more then you need! Then run around looking for areas to empty the can.

Ray, I am interested in hearing more about the foam air breather. Was this OEM or something you made up to fit?

Thanks again,
Steve - ERY35159M84A

;)
 

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Ray Rhode

Member III
I have installed the 1" lead lined soundproofing foam on the top and front covers. It seems to have helped some. Be sure to use the "nails" to hold the foam on and do not rely on the glue only.

I also replacd the canvas curtain in the starboard locker with a plywood bulkhead which I lined with the same foam.

My next step will be to replace the engine mounts. I believe they are the originals and are hard a rocks. I hope that this will further reduce some of the noise. A friend has a later model 32 with the same engine with newer mounts and his engie is quieter.


Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189
 

Steve

Member III
Ray-

I wasn't aware of the canvas curtain. Please explain where it was and if this was OEM to the 35-III.

Again thanks for the insight on this thismatter. I also think the motor mount issue makes sense. They have come along way in since 84 in isolating vibration with the advent of computer designs.

Steve:cool:
 

Ray Rhode

Member III
My E35 came with a canvas curtain which snapped to the inboard lip of the starboard cockpit locker and to the bottom on the locker sole. It closed off the water heater and stufing box area from the cockpit locker.

I used this as a pattern and cut a piece of 3/8" plywood and then backed it with the lead foil backed foam. This was then screwed into the lip of the locker.

I will try to come up with some photos and will send them to you off line.

Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189
 

Sandy White

New Member
I added sound proofing to my Ericson 35-1984, #181 . I used 1" lead stuck on with spray adhesive and "nails". For the walls with the pumps and filters,, I took them off that allowed the panels to be covered. Then I replaced the unit. I also have the canvass cover which is useless. My winter project is to install the plywood substitute with the lead attched. The sound proof does muffle and as it has aluminum on the surface the engine area looks cleaner. For the starbord side make certain to make separate panels for each of the removable doors.

The suppies cost about $225.00.
 

jim kizziar

Member I
First, I admit to being a glutton for punishment when it comes to noise reduction, so I jumped into this problem on my ER-35-3 with both feet. I used the 1.75" insulation with a center decoupling layer and the foil surface. I removed everything from the engine compartment walls and ceiling (under cockpit) and then covered EVERYTHING using a solid piece of the insulation in an inverted U-shape (using a brown paper template which I made with thumbtacks and tape and box cutter) which was held in place with the nails. I then covered all areas around the engine itself and access panel surfaces with the same insulation cut to fit. where there were small wood surfaces (usch as trim or edge pieces on access panels, I overlapped the insulation to cover the gaps. For the canvas curtain, I simply sprayed the glue onto the sunbrella and installed the foam insulation directly, using the curtain as a template. that worked great and did not require plywood work. I also insulated the wood panel that divides the aft locker and the hot water heater metal box. the project took a 3-day weekend, 8 hours per day (and a very sore back). at one point I became frustrated by the time requirement for the project, but once the first piece of insulation went in the light went on at the end of the tunnel and my enthusiasm picked back up. at another point I became stuck head first deep in the engine compartment and had to be rescued (feet first, but only after several pictures were taken) by several dock buddies.
RESULTS: much quieter engine and great satisfaction. My racing crew noticed the difference right away. the thicker insulation and the center decoupling layer was very important to the level of noise reduction. I used products from Hough Acoustical Products of Seattle (206-784-8400), which was highly rated in Practical Sailor.

with the leftover materials I was able to insulate the compartment where we installed a Cruiseair a/c unit and it is also nice and quiet.

I have not changed the engine mounts to the Universal diesel but that sounds like a good idea. are they readily available from Universal? what is the process for changing them out?
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Thanks for the great description of the noise reduction process! So, how did you re-attach all the hose ties, Racors, electrical stuff, etc, etc to the sides of the engine compartment after putting that two-layer foam into place?
:confused:

I have reached the point of "maximum noise" after removed 98% of the original messy crumbling foil-covered foam put there by Ericson in 1988.
Now I need to put in new higher-tech stuff like you, but also have a plethora of things screwed to the sides of the engine compartment...
Spacers for each fastening???

Anybody have an elegent solution? How about an inelegent solution?
:)

Thanks,

Loren
Olson 34 #8
Universal M25XP
 

jim kizziar

Member I
I used two steps to reattach various items. first I marked the location where the items would be reattached on the paper template and made an X-shaped cut in the foam (that middle decoupling layer was harder to punch through) before installation. this helped with placement and I didn't have to make cuts in the foam once it was in place. then I took long finishing nails and tapped them into the panels at the locations of the items to be reattached. when I placed the foam into position, the nails cam through (usually) the X- shaped cuts without a problem and marked the screw positions for me (as well as creating a starter hole for the screws). I then used plastic spacers available at Home Depot to reattach items using my cordless drill. keep your extra power pack charging as the battery will need to be swapped out several times per day. I also used this opportunity to replace cable ties attached to bulkheads, as spacers needed to be used on those as well. time consuming in the prep but helped substantially in the reattachment phase.
 
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