On our P275 we are prone to mast shake when the wind is somewhere between F4-5. As I am trying to get to sleep, the whole mast, and therefore yacht, will shake when the wind hits a critical speed. It lasts for a couple of seconds, but can repeat frequently. As the in-mast halyards then rattle, it adds up to some disturbance.

I tried different tensions on the backstay, mainsheet, topping lift and sail stacker, but no adjustment made any difference. I presume that resonance is a function of mast length rather than rigging tension, so in theory rigging tensions will make no difference.

Have you found this problem? Have you found a way to minimise it? All advice gratefully received.

Cheers-Ken

Ken Surplice

Speedwell is in the middle of a long trip around Brittany. We are now at the mouth of the Morbihan.

On mast shake we have not had that whilst stationary, but I was amazed at the coincidence of the message, because we have been suffering from a mast groaning or graunching when sailing slowly over small swells. I have tried copious amounts of WD 40 on the gooseneck, but although it is probably related to the boom I cannot find the source.

On mast shake the only thing I do to help shut the boat up at night is tie the boom over to one side - probqbly (blasted french keyboard!) will not help.

So sorry for no solution. All goes well with us though we had a very bumpy sail down the Quiberon peninsular with me bouncing off a winch - still a bit sore!

Cheers

Tim & M

Tim Reeder

Ken Surplice

Tom Hartinsonn

Tom Hartinsonn