Mast Creaking under sail

[saurav16]

Question for everyone, when sailing today and previously in about 10-15knot winds with the roller furling furled out all the way the mast seems to creak during gusts. Anyone else have this problem or know what it could be. I feel uneasy, I don't want to lose the rig.

What should I be checking? There is never such a creak when sailing with just the main sail. Thanks in advance for your help!

[DelmarRey]

A few things you may want to check;

The sheaves in the mast-head.
Shroud/stay pins and holes for elongation.
Maststep for movement and/or deck thru hole if keel stepped.
Chainplates for movement.

[sailingdog]

When was the last time you checked your rigging tension and inspected your rigging and chainplates? If it wasn't in the last few months, you should start by doing a thorough inspection of the rigging and checking the tension.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by saurav16

Question for everyone, when sailing today and previously in about 10-15knot winds with the roller furling furled out all the way the mast seems to creak during gusts. Anyone else have this problem or know what it could be. I feel uneasy, I don't want to lose the rig.

What should I be checking? There is never such a creak when sailing with just the main sail. Thanks in advance for your help!

The creaking could be caused by any number of things. The fact that you don't hear it with the jib rolled up tells me that the likely culprit is one of the clevis pins on the forestay.
At the top and bottom of the headstay, you should have toggles. The toggles are there to provide articulation like a universal joint, so that when the sail fills, you aren't bending the wire. It's not uncommon for a little surface corrosion to occur on these clevis pins and for them to complain a little when moving.
The next time you go aloft, take a can of WD 40 or similar and give the clevis pins and masthead sheaves a squirt. See if that helps.

As pointed out by another poster, it's a good idea to inspect and tune your rig occasionally too. But a little creaking is not uncommon and in the majority of cases not something to be too worried about.

[saurav16]

Oh snap I have never really checked the tension of the rig. I should check the chain plates too. I tried to read Gui's explanation of of tuning the rig but it seems very complicated. Anyone have simpler instructions for checking rig tension?

[knothead]

Originally Posted by saurav16

Oh snap I have never really checked the tension of the rig. I should check the chain plates too. I tried to read Gui's explanation of of tuning the rig but it seems very complicated. Anyone have simpler instructions for checking rig tension?

Go to post #40 of that same thread, http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/42542-adjusting-your-rig.html
I tried to simplify the tuning process there.

The link above takes you to page four. I don't know why. Post #40 is on page two.

[sailingdog]

Depends on your settings, since you can specify how many posts you see per "page". Your settings may be different on different computers, since IIRC, it is stored in a cookie.

Originally Posted by knothead

Go to post #40 of that same thread, http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/42542-adjusting-your-rig.html
I tried to simplify the tuning process there.

The link above takes you to page four. I don't know why. Post #40 is on page two.