[wumhenry]

When motoring in a heavy chop in my Bristol 29.9, I hear a "funny" mechanical noise -- i.e., a noise that isn't present when motoring in flat water. It's not the engine noise, which doesn't change, and seems to be coming from the back of the engine compartment. At first I thought it might be cavitation, but cavitation would be intermittent (I assume), and this is constant. Should I suspect that a bearing is going bad? If it's a bearing problem, why don't I hear the noise during a long motoring run in smooth water? (For instance, the funny noise never cropped up while I motored up the Elk River and through the C&D canal last week.)