Salt Water Crackling Noise?

[Courageous]

Perhaps a crazy question but being a fresh water sailor I’m having a hard time getting my head around the noises I’ve been hearing off an on mostly during the night while we’ve been traveling down the ICW. It sounds like a crackling noise that varies in intensity, perhaps by the amount of current going by the boat while at anchor or at a dock. It also seems to be less intense or not there al all during the day. Is this natural or do I have an electrical problem? The noise seems to be at all ends of the boat, not just around the keel area.

Thoughts please…

[Capt Phil]

Shrimp...

[charliehows]

you're floating on a soup, who knows whats in there. i've noticed something similiar, must admit i'd like to know more about it too. To me its a magic sound, same sort of category as phosphorescence...

[Courageous]

as long as it's not electrical related i will sleep better

[Hudson Force]

Marine organisms are noisy creatures. That's why some of them have names like "Drum" & "Croakers". Shrimp and barnacles make clicking sounds as well as many others. I particularly like the sound of the Parrot Fish crunching the barnacles when I bring a few into Lake Worth. I just wish they would be tidy predators and remove the scale too! It's a good sound of a healthy marine environment.

[Andrew Troup]

+1 on shrimp

[High Heels]

Will never forget my first night hearing the 'krill' as I was told they are referred to here in the Beaufort area in N.C. We were on our first boat for one of our first ventures out to the Ocean and anchored in Taylor's Creek...we were reading after sunset and I was convinced we had some weird electrical issue and then remembered having heard somewhere about it and then I could sleep...that's a sweet memory...Take care and enjoy your saltwater adventures...

[Matt Johnson]

Strange sounds out there isn't there?

We heard our first mega yacht's bow thruster this year and couldn't figure out what it was. I thought I had something running on the boat and my wife and I spent a frantic minute trying to find the source. After switching off all breaker power, I finally realized it wasn't from our boat. I then looked outside (above us) and saw a 162' M/V coming sideways into the slip next to us.

[Tony B]

+1 on Shrimp.

[Maren]

Originally Posted by Courageous

[FONT=Tahoma]Perhaps a crazy question but being a fresh water sailor I’m having a hard time getting my head around the noises I’ve been hearing off an on mostly during the night while we’ve been traveling down the ICW. It sounds like a crackling noise that varies in intensity, perhaps by the amount of current going by the boat while at anchor or at a dock.

Yep. Barnacles. Stops if you up into freshwater. A friend of mine thought I was pulling his leg when I gave him the same answer to the same question.

[Cheechako]

It's little shrimp on the west coast anyway. Drives people nuts until they figure it out! Amazing how loud they can be when you are trying to sleep at night!

[boatpoker]

Flush your head in the dark and watch it light up with phosphoresence ... another salt water treat.

Let me re-phrase ... flush your "toilet" in the dark

[Captain Jeffry]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

It's little shrimp on the west coast anyway. Drives people nuts until they figure it out! Amazing how loud they can be when you are trying to sleep at night!

Extremely loud in dirty Marina Del Rey. Brine Shrimp. Considerable less noise in Catalina.. In the summer and near sunbdown I hear what sounds like a 'growler fish' and have captured it on video. A long frog like sound. My cat follows the noise from bow to stern sniffing through the floor boards for the origin. Funny to watch..

[Dulcesuenos]

Fiberglass termites. Not good. Better call an exterminator

[stevensc]

Pop corn shrimp.
Steve W