After such a fun weekend where we took in a penguin colony and then spent a great day with our Cape Town friends, Johan and Christie, sipping wine and enjoying great food and company, today was rather a letdown. I guess everyday can’t be so fun packed.

Today our highlight was having our carpenter, Franz and his helper, David, come over to Leu Cat. The last time Franz was here he expressed a concern regarding the potential causes to our creaking. He was worried that our shrouds and stays to the mast may have been too highly tensioned and would have forced the bending of our hulls too much, especially when we were pounding down what is known here as the “Wild Coast”. This is the South African coast as one goes down the Mozambique Channel heading for the Cape. It certainly was “wild” when we sailed down it towards the end of last year!

I did not think that this was our problem since I had adjusted the tension on the rigging just before leaving the Seychelles and then again in Madagascar. While I did apply more tension to each shroud, they were loose to begin with and needed the additional tension. Plus, when I was done I had measured the tension with our Loos Gauge and all was in specifications.

A sailboat is a finely tuned instrument which always needs to be kept in top shape to perform well. This is especially true with a blue water sailboat because if problems occur while out in the middle of the ocean, you may be in trouble since there is no one there to help you and no port to put into to make repairs.

Having too much tension on the mast shrouds is very bad as it compresses or pulls down the mast into the center of the boat. With a catamaran, it also pulls the outer sides of each hull up. This spreads the hulls out and warps its natural shape, causing tremendous strain on the hulls. This issue can be complicated by bashing into heavy seas which puts additions forces on the already strained hull. Cracks in the fiberglass can occur, leading to hull failure. Franz wanted to make sure this was not the case. Creaking of the woodwork that is glued to the hulls could be a symptom of the start of hull failure.

Fortunately, Franz’s inspection of where the foot of the mast is supported into the bridge deck showed that its integrity was sound and where the bridge deck and the hulls came together was sound also. Whew!

With this concern satisfied, Franz was now of the same mind as I regarding the cause of the creaking. Specifically it is just an issue of the glue which adheres the wood framing to the fiberglass hulls had flexed free in spots. This is because the fiberglass hulls flex with each wave while the wood does not. Something evidentially will give and the glue is the weak element. With the framework moving a little bit, the joints of the wall paneling also move a bit which causes the creaking. We only hear the creaking when we are in heavy seas and the hulls are flexing a lot.

Because each wall panel is individually glued to the framework, it is not practical to remove them. To do so would end up destroying each panel. Instead, Franz and I discussed a two-step process to address the creaking joints. First, using a thin diamond tipped circular saw blade he would cut a very thin seam between each joint. Then he would fill each seam with colored epoxy to stop the creaking of the joints. The second step would be to drill a few holes into each panel so he could insert a tube which would be used to spray expanding, adhesive foam between the back of the panel and the fiberglass hull. This would help stabilize the framework that has worked itself loose a bit. This foam will need to have some flexibility in it and he will be talking to the manufacturer to get to the best type for our situation. He will report back to us on Thursday or Friday with what the manufacturer suggests.