Strange noises

[cardude01]

Ok, this is going to sound strange, but I'm anchored out by myself tonight. Reading. Chilling out. Drinking some wine. Having some sushi.

Down below I hear a noise that sounds a bit like running water combined with insects flying. I've turned off every system on the boat and it's not from the boat but from the water. I opened up the bilge hatch and it's super loud in the bilge.

What the hell? I've had some wine but I'm not hammered. I will try to get a sound recording.

 

[cardude01]

https://youtu.be/H2WM9iQGqoU

 

[psneeld]

Marine life probably.

A friend in Ft Pierce in a sailboat went a week with a sound that kept him awake at night.

He and I spent an hour troubleshooting...to me it sounded electrical.

Bottom line, we couldn't pinpoint it, told him to anchor out for the day.

He told me problem solved as he pulled away a large school of fish changed berths too.

Some strange sounds the critters can make.

 

[cardude01]

Critters eating the hull bottom growth maybe? I swear at one point it sounded like a woodpecker hitting the hull.

Strange times we live in. [emoji41]

 

[rochepoint]

Critters eating the hull bottom growth maybe? I swear at one point it sounded like a woodpecker hitting the hull.

Strange times we live in. [emoji41]

Maybe some mermaids came a knocking.................

 

[cardude01]

Mermaids! That's probably it. Excuse me while I apply my cologne.

 

[Gordon J]

Dolphins

Ok, this is going to sound strange, but I'm anchored out by myself tonight. Reading. Chilling out. Drinking some wine. Having some sushi.

Down below I hear a noise that sounds a bit like running water combined with insects flying. I've turned off every system on the boat and it's not from the boat but from the water. I opened up the bilge hatch and it's super loud in the bilge.

What the hell? I've had some wine but I'm not hammered. I will try to get a sound recording.

I could not get the audio to play for some reason, but you tube dolphin noises and see what you get. Dolphins hunting fish a Verro beach had me going crazy until i figured it it.

 

[REAL MOUNTIE]

 

[Gordon J]

I just got it to play. Doesn't sound like dolphins to me.

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

If you have confirmed that it isn't a water issue coming into the boat, I wouldn't worry too much. Strange but not dangerous. Enjoy your anchorage as you contemplate sails/masts/rigging....

 

[MurrayM]

Judging by the fast repeating repetitious nature of the sound, I'd guess a whopping big propeller somewhere in the distance. Just because the boat can't be seen doesn't mean it can't be heard.

 

[cardude01]

If you have confirmed that it isn't a water issue coming into the boat, I wouldn't worry too much. Strange but not dangerous. Enjoy your anchorage as you contemplate sails/masts/rigging....

I actually called Mack Sails today and told them it's a go. My next adventure is on deck! Now I need to get the boat back to FL. [emoji41]

Hopefully they can get if finished by June so we can cross over to the Bahamas with the whole family and test out our motorsailing skills. [emoji51]

 

[Steve]

Critters eating the hull bottom growth maybe? I swear at one point it sounded like a woodpecker hitting the hull.

Strange times we live in. [emoji41]

I have heard these guys many times while moored or anchoring out, they sounds like something faintly tapping on the hull.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae

 

[FlyWright]

I had a similar sound. I was new to the boat and my experienced buddy and I crawled all over that boat looking for the source. Sounded like a mouse chewing on metal. It turned out to be a burgee flying in the breeze.

Man...did I feel stupid!

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I think Mr. Steve's got it. When I heard that same noise I was told it was brine shrimp eating "stuff" off the hull but now, snapping shrimp "fills in the blank".

Or....it could be another burgee...

 

[Xsbank]

Hey Cardude...

 

[Maerin]

I have heard these guys many times while moored or anchoring out, they sounds like something faintly tapping on the hull.

Oh, no!
Dreaded polyester mites. You'll need to haul the boat at once and apply a coat of miticide. I have some leftovers from my last application that you can have, just pay shipping and handling, send me a shipping address. But, wait! You can have double the leftovers for a small additional fee.....

Seriously.....
I can remember chasing all over the boat one late night looking for what was making a strange noise, paranoid that something ELSE was breaking. A local finally set me straight with a knowing grin... shrimp! Not because I'm short, but because that's what I was hearing; shrimp munching on stuff on the bottom of the boat. In the ensuing years since that revelation many years ago, we've experienced all sorts of things that go click, snap, burp, groan and whine in the night (and in the day)! It's all part of the cruising adventure!
Enjoy!

 

[JDCAVE]

Other boats traveling about? That's always noisy in the bilge area.

Jim

 

[markpierce]

Shrimp? That's not the usual way one cleans one's boat bottom. Perhaps you need to clean the boat's bottom the conventional way to avoid the noise.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Did you forget to turn off the faucet in the galley? No seriously this noise would have made me nervous!

 

[FlyWright]

Of course, if you don't find the cause, you can always blame it on "shrimp" like the rest of these guys. It's a secret little lie (a lot like snipe) that allows them to sleep at night while their boats slowly dissolve back into the sea.

 

[markpierce]

That's a happy thought.

 

[Peter B]

https://youtu.be/H2WM9iQGqoU

It will almost certainly have been marine life. I remember when at anchor in NZ, not so much here in Moreton bay - maybe the muddy bottom damps the noise down, or snapping shrimps don't like it here), but the noise from the snapping shrimps was almost deafening in some anchorages. I thing RTF nailed it. Them and other critters. Amazing how much noise crabs, lobsters etc also make.

 

[catalinajack]

A local finally set me straight with a knowing grin... shrimp! Not because I'm short, but because that's what I was hearing; shrimp munching on stuff on the bottom of the boat. In the ensuing years since that revelation many years ago, we've experienced all sorts of things that go click, snap, burp, groan and whine in the night (and in the day)! It's all part of the cruising adventure!
Enjoy!

Yes, shrimp. Had the same experience in Palm Coast, Florida. Those buggers started eating off my hull just after dark. Stopped around midnight. Sounded like crunching. Very loud, very annoying. As with the OP, I searched all over until a local clued me in. It was especially disconcerting as we were new boat owners at the time.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. PB. Thanks but Mr. S nailed it in post #13. Credit where credit is due...

 

[mikeg]

That would freak me out. Where exactly are you?

 

[FF]

Anchor in a tidal stream and on some hulls you can hear the water going by.

 

[cardude01]

I'm anchored in about 8' of water in Aransas bay on the lee side of a Gulf barrier island.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Be careful, this is the last place Godzilla was spotted!

 

[ranger58sb]

Marine life probably.

A friend in Ft Pierce in a sailboat went a week with a sound that kept him awake at night.

He and I spent an hour troubleshooting...to me it sounded electrical.

Greetings,
I think Mr. Steve's got it. When I heard that same noise I was told it was brine shrimp eating "stuff" off the hull but now, snapping shrimp "fills in the blank".

Yes, shrimp. Had the same experience in Palm Coast, Florida. Those buggers started eating off my hull just after dark. Stopped around midnight. Sounded like crunching. Very loud, very annoying. As with the OP, I searched all over until a local clued me in. It was especially disconcerting as we were new boat owners at the time.

Same experience here. First happened in St. Augustine at the municipal docks when we were bringing our last boat up here to the Chesapeake. Sounded electrical. Drove us nuts. Spent a couple hours trying to eliminate systems, to home in on the culprit. Eventually decided we had no clue...

Next morning, the dockmaster filled us in... think he said they were "pistol shrimp"...

-Chris