J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment irritating noise

Hey guys,

I have been putting up with it all season but it's finally starting to wear me down. When on the anchor or mooring, in the right swell, the wires in the mast (radio, masthead/spreader light etc.) swing to and fro inside the mast and play it like a drum, if the swells are bad enough it is obnoxiously loud whilst trying to sleep. How have you guys fixed this issue?

Thanks!

When you have the mast down, pull the wires to one end[will need messenger line],put a large gob of silicone sealer in your hand and relocate the wires and let the sealer set up.Make sure all halyards are tight to keep them out of the sealer. I've done this twice in ten years and it worked both times. The wires will stick to the side that is down, so plan ahead.

I used a slight variation of Bob's suggestion. I take the wires and use three zip ties cinched them tight in a bundle and spaced 120 degrees apart leaving the tails on the zip ties. Do this about every three feet. This keeps them from banging against the mast, allows the halyards to run free, and provides and easy way to remove the wires when needed.

My solution was to pull all the wires out of the mast and use all wireless equipment (not only does this eliminate the noise, you will also reduce weight aloft quite a bit!). If halyards have enough tension when they are stowed, they won't bounce around much.

On Falcon I used some light weight 1/2" pipe insulation to cover all the electrical wires this addresses the noise issue and protects them from the halyards

all good suggestions, thanks

I did this too and it worked amazing!