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Crackling or popping noise heard inside the hull; beneath the surface

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by JWY, Jun 4, 2012.

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  1. JWY, Jun 4, 2012
    #1
    JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    If this question has already been answered on YF, please refer me to the thread.

    What is the crackling noise heard from inside a boat, below the waterline? The noise that sounds sorta like popcorn or crunching styrofoam. I said that it was fish eating the barnacles. My cohort in the bilge said it was shrimp cracking their tails.

    Love the sound, it's second best to hearing water lap against the hull.

    But what is it?

    Judy
  2. YachtForums, Jun 4, 2012
    #2
    YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Thanks for posting this question Judy. It sounds exactly like a bowl of rice crispies after pouring milk! I still think it's shrimp. Or krill.

    Respectfully,

    Your Cohort.
  3. JWY, Jun 4, 2012
    #3
    JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    Mr. no longer anonymous bilge buddy: it's amazing how you can even make a thread title read better! Rice Crispies after milk - describes it perfectly!

    YFers: can you tell there's a review coming up on a boat that has a bilge big enough for 2!

    Judy
  4. SHAZAM, Jun 4, 2012
    #4
    SHAZAM

    SHAZAM Senior Member

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    I've heard this noise while up in St Augustine, I couldn't figure it out at first. Only after my AC stopped working did I realize that the sound was coming from the zebra mussels that were rapidly infesting my raw water system.
  5. Capt J, Jun 4, 2012
    #5
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    You hear it mostly on steel vessels. I believe it's air molecules that are in the water and as the current forces the water over the bottom, they leech off onto the bottom of the hull.......and make that noise.
  6. FutureYachter, Jun 4, 2012
    #6
    FutureYachter

    FutureYachter Member

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    Although I haven't experienced it on the West Coast, I have read about boaters hearing snapping shrimp from inside their boat with it driving them crazy trying to locate the source.

    The sound can be heard here:
    Snapping shrimp audio

    Their habitat extends up most of the East Coast:
    Snapping shrimp habitat
  7. PacBlue, Jun 5, 2012
    #7
    PacBlue

    PacBlue Senior Member

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    Heard it all the time out West (SoCal) in our fiberglass boats. Can't tell you how many times the dockside 'experts" (albeit with a few beers under their belts) claimed it was the fiberglass hulls falling apart :D

    It is amazing how loud it can actually get, especially with some berths low on the waterline and right up against the hull..........
  8. AMG, Jun 5, 2012
    #8
    AMG

    AMG YF Moderator

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    I hade the same thing in the Med, at Golfe Juan in the Moonen 85 (steel hull). They said it was fish eating on the hull, but I never really found out what it was. Just happy it wasn´t the boat cracking up...:)
  9. Marmot, Jun 5, 2012
    #9
    Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

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    Did you forget the smiley?
  10. Fishtigua, Jun 5, 2012
    #10
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Marmot, are you shrimping out of the debate?

    It wouldn't krill you to comment. Show a bit of mussel. :D
  11. YachtForums, Jun 5, 2012
    #11
    YachtForums

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    Fish Humor! Very punny... :D
  12. Fishtigua, Jun 5, 2012
    #12
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    But true. It's just little critters having a go at the antifouling.
  13. C4ENG, Jun 5, 2012
    #13
    C4ENG

    C4ENG Senior Member

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    Ha! Good one fish.

    Let me tell you about the barnacles that seem to make a lot of no good noise...

    barnacles - YouTube

    Don't hate!
  14. Fishtigua, Jun 5, 2012
    #14
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Mate,

    If you had woken up face down on as many pontoons at sunrise as I had, you would know the sound.

    That bit when the sun comes up and you have a deep desire for a really cold soda, that's when you hear the none-stop noise of the little beggers.

    Next time you go down to the boat, put your ear down on the wooden part of the planking; its a whole new world.

    Judy, I hope this answers your question.
  15. YachtForums, Jun 5, 2012
    #15
    YachtForums

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    Hate is a strong word. I try not to use it.

    I hate barnacles.
  16. JWY, Jun 6, 2012
    #16
    JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    What's interesting is this started out as a "barnacle vs shrimp, but what is it really" question. And we get audio clips that support each. Barnacles feasting on the hull while shrimp are cracking in applause? What we have learned it that it's on all hull materials, which I already knew but didn't know that was a question still hanging. But, barnacles and mussels feasting is not the same as shrimp cracking, so we're back to the original question. Not that this is so scientifically important, but it seems a simple questions to what thousands of us have surely been hearing for many years.

    Judy
    :confused:
  17. K1W1, Jun 6, 2012
    #17
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    I would go for things growing on the hull as I have heard it in places where the only shrimps within thousands of miles come frozen in a 5lb box
  18. JWY, Jun 6, 2012
    #18
    JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    Thanks K1W1.

    Process of elimination leads to bottom feeders. Now the sound will remind me of some recent clients :D
  19. Spike62, Jun 7, 2012
    #19
    Spike62

    Spike62 New Member

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    Believe it Oar knot...

    I heard it too, perched as I was on a haddock under a mackerel sky, waiting for a grouper guys to come in, trying to tuna guitar.
    Oh Fish, here's that six squid I owe you...

    Now I can say, I'm a prawn again Crispin, I have seen Cod. :rolleyes:
  20. Capt J, Jun 7, 2012
    #20
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Maybe they are Terredo worms. The ones that eat the pilings, maybe they're trying to get into the bottom paint......I only hear it in certain area's, usually not in true salt like at Marina's in the Bahamas.
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