Snap, Crackle & Pop!

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ScottC

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Joined
Nov 2, 2019
Messages
1,516
Location
SWEDEN
Vessel Name
ABsolutely FABulous
Vessel Make
Greenline 33 Hybrid (2010)
In 2019, we spent a couple of nights at Puerto de Blanes, just south of the French border in the Mediterranean.


During the evening, I noticed rather rather loud "snap, crackle & pop" sounds seemingly coming from the bilge. After crawling around a bit and noting the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere, I gave up. Nevertheless, it had me a bit worried, as I thought the sound was coming from somewhere within our boat. Stepping outside on the pier, I could hear it as well, but somewhat less so...and it seemed to be coming from our boat. I asked the marina attendant about it and he said the sound came from a certain type of shrimp on the bottom, when clicking claws together. I'm not sure I believed him, but had no further explanation that was any better, so I stopped searching. After leaving the marina, we did not hear the sound again for the remainder of our 2019 voyage.



I "asked the internet" and, of course, the internet had a lot to say. Everything from bottom paint problems to my hull was de-laminating have the boat hauled immediately!



Fast-forward to 2022 and, in the marina we stayed at in Portoferraio (Island of Elba, Italy) we heard the same sounds again. I tried getting down on my knees on the pier next to ours to listen in order to see if the neighbor boat was experiencing the same thing. Embarrassingly, I heard some shuffling and closing of a porthole in the boat, as apparently somebody thought I was trying to look in. I didn't think anybody was aboard!!! Anyway, I heard the same sound. So, I think the shrimp story might be a little more believable.


Any opinions from TF members???
 
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Thanks, HTurner!
I had somehow missed that one. The sound on his video is exactly the same as what I experienced.
I wonder how he knows it's shrimp??
 
Prevalent in FL too. Can be quite loud.
 
We hear night-time mating noises from a little fish called a "midshipmen" in San Francisco Bay every year. At times the sound can be quite disturbing to some.
 
Giggitoni said:
We hear night-time mating noises from a little fish called a "midshipmen" in San Francisco Bay every year. At times the sound can be quite disturbing to some.
Click to expand...



A friend anchored near me a while back called because he was hearing those sounds. He had a balsa cored boat so I told him it was carpenter ants eating the balsa core. Told him the truth ( shrimp) in the morning.
 
SailorGreg said:
A friend anchored near me a while back called because he was hearing those sounds. He had a balsa cored boat so I told him it was carpenter ants eating the balsa core. Told him the truth ( shrimp) in the morning.
Click to expand...


That was a mean joke ;-)
 
Don't listen to anybody here.. Shrimp! ha.
You obviously have an infestation of fibermites. Or depending on the makeup of your hull possibly epoxiants.
HOLLYWOOD
 
ScottC said:
In 2019, we spent a couple of nights at Puerto de Blanes, just south of the French border in the Mediterranean.


During the evening, I noticed rather rather loud "snap, crackle & pop" sounds seemingly coming from the bilge. After crawling around a bit and noting the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere, I gave up. Nevertheless, it had me a bit worried, as I thought the sound was coming from somewhere within our boat. Stepping outside on the pier, I could hear it as well, but somewhat less so...and it seemed to be coming from our boat. I asked the marina attendant about it and he said the sound came from a certain type of shrimp on the bottom, when clicking claws together. I'm not sure I believed him, but had no further explanation that was any better, so I stopped searching. After leaving the marina, we did not hear the sound again for the remainder of our 2019 voyage.



I "asked the internet" and, of course, the internet had a lot to say. Everything from bottom paint problems to my hull was de-laminating have the boat hauled immediately!



Fast-forward to 2022 and, in the marina we stayed at in Portoferraio (Island of Elba, Italy) we heard the same sounds again. I tried getting down on my knees on the pier next to ours to listen in order to see if the neighbor boat was experiencing the same thing. Embarrassingly, I heard some shuffling and closing of a porthole in the boat, as apparently somebody thought I was trying to look in. I didn't think anybody was aboard!!! Anyway, I heard the same sound. So, I think the shrimp story might be a little more believable.


Any opinions from TF members???
Click to expand...

It is the truth. Also a sign of healthy waters in that marina.
 
We had the same experience with two boats in the Adriatic. Didnot bother me as long as the boat was floating.
A brother in law thought our batteries had some kind of short circuit and he and his wife didnot sleep during their whole stay because they were afraid for an explosion.

I told him the sound was produced by little fish but I couldnot reassure them.
People suffer the most from what they fear.:):)
 
You hear that noise all up and down the ICW. Everybody says it's shrimp, but the old-timers say it's really tiny little polyester mites munching on your hull. Here's the proof - we heard them all the time in our fiberglass sailboat, but never once in the steel trawler!
 
Brine Shrimp is my guess. I’ve heard that sound many times and it was tiny brine shrimp enjoying what miniature growth was on the hull.
 
In Muskegon we have a fish called the fresh water drum, aka "grunt" and that's exactly what they sound like. It's a big fish, up to 3' long and they're loud. When you get hundreds of them going it's darn near deafening, and of course they only make the noise at night when you're trying to sleep.
 
Mantis shrimp.the sound is their front
Claws breaking the sound barrier under the water to kill prey
 
We’re used to the snap crackle pop of the shrimp in SWFL but last season we had an underwater woodpecker! A 2Hz tap, tap, tap… for hours.
 
We experienced something similar in the western rivers where the Asian Carp are said to be feeding off the bottom of the boats and docks at night. Quite loud. Very odd. Can't remember the port.


Ray
Shellerina.com
 
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We all come to trawlers from different backgrounds. I spent 30 years on US Navy nuclear submarines before actually getting "my" boat. Yes, shrimp make noise, sometimes enough to significantly interfere with the sonar on the ship. Shrimp are pesky little devils but oh, so tasty!
 
Sometimes when staying the night on our boat in our marina (Little Creek, VA) we hear knocking on the hull. After asking, someone told me that seals play mischief with local boats at night. I asked a friend who works at the Navy base across the water from us and he said there are no seals in the harbor, and I should just forget about it. It stopped for a while and then came back. Maybe seals migrate? Anyway, it just shows that there's all sorts of sea life under our hulls. If only we could train them to clean our bottoms while they are there putzing around.
 
Thanks, all for the comments. This has turned out to be a far more fascinating thread than I ever thought it would be!
 
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