J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Quieting lines in mast at anchor

The lines inside my mast slap the inside of the mast in any moderate amount of wind (8-10kts?). Makes for tough sleeping sometimes. I've tightened all of the halyards as well as I can. The spinnaker topping lift comes down to the ring on the mast and is more difficult to tighten. Anyone have a tip for this boat? Otherwise it's pretty quiet at night.

Are you sure it is the halyards and not the electrical wires? If the halyards are all tight, they should not slap inside.

Natural High was painfully loud until I re-wired the mast. What I did then, as every 3 feet I put 3 long tailed zip ties on the wire conduit with the tails in three outward directions. It makes for a lot of zip ties, but it holds the sire conduit in the centre of the mast and it makes not a peep now no matter how rolly the anchorage!

That's interesting, I hadn't thought about that although the frequency is a little less than once a second so I would assume that means there is something outside the mast catching the wind and all the wires and things attached to them are protected? I haven't been to the top of the mast yet.

Agree that a fast vibration is less likely the electrical wires as they usually just slowly smack the side of the mast with each roll

After more "research" (i.e. sleepless nights), it's clear that this noise is the single harness of electrical wires that enters the mast on port side just above the mast step.

Surely this must be somehow secured to the inside of all of your masts to prevent this slapping against the sides at anchor? Or maybe it is somehow fixed in the center of the mast and pulled tight (doesn't seem possible to me though)? How was the mast wiring run out of the factory??

The electrical mast lines were not secured in my boat from the factory. Hull #406.

So then I assume you have this problem too??

Patrick,
I solved this issue a few years back by wrapping and taping my electric wires into foam pipe insulation from home depot. something along the line of :
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...al-Pipe-Insulation-ORS05812/204760809...
Made a world of difference for my wife and I...

Thanks for the tip. I am through some google searching that more rigid conduit is often used in masts, slid into some kind of extrusion that holds it in place through the length of the mast. One thing a rigid conduit seems to solve is keeping itself out of the way of halyards, etc. Possibly securing your foam solution to the sides of the mast may accomplish that. What do you think about all of that? Do you think your foam tubing rubs on the halyards?

I did pay attention (and it is tricky) making sure the halyards are not twisted around the electric wire... and around other halyards for that matter. Making sure is probably an overstatement - since it is quite hard visually - so I use more like a feel hoisting keeping/touching the other halyard to "feel" if any friction....

I also used the spreader reinforcement as a forward backward split: main halyard and foamed wrappd wire behind - jibs halyard in front.

In term of rigid tubing - I tried light and simple at first - and since it worked did not get further :-)