A Photo & Discussion Forum for Wharram Design Enthusiasts

Gaff noise - any solutions?

Hi All,

My first post here and good to be on board.

On the Tiki 38 Luckyfish we had the standard leather protection on the inside of the gaff jaws. After a few thousand miles of listening to them "grind" and send vibrations down the mast (as the gaffs responded to changes in wind pressure), we tried candle wax and impregnating the leather with copious amounts of silicone spray. That was a small improvement but not enough. We then replaced the leather on one gaff with strips of 2mm plastic and that was a further reduction in the noise, although it may be a bit abrasive on the 2-pack coated mast over time and it didn't eliminate the friction/noise.

Has anyone tried strips of PTFE (Teflon) ? Or found any other solutions, other than lanolin or wool-grease? (I'm a Kiwi see!). Thanks and Merry Xmas, Stewart

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brad Ingram on December 19, 2016 at 12:12pm

Hey Stewart. I ended up just super gluing some clear plastic from a container of screws I bought to the jaws, and no more noise! It was supposed to just be a temporary solution until I could get some better plastic, but it is working just fine for the time being. It's really smooth on the bare aluminum mast, but I'm not sure how long it will last.

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Permalink Reply by Stewart Coates on December 19, 2016 at 4:27pm

thanks Brad that's good to know. sounds like the right plastic might be the way to go. btw checked out your blog, nice one and thanks for sharing

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Permalink Reply by Björn on December 20, 2016 at 3:26am

I had Teflon on my previous boats and it worked very well, probably better than leather and lasted virtually forever, I fisx it with copper nails to the gaffs. On my current one I still live with the noise and changing leather against Teflon is on the todo list. I would recomment to use at least 3mm Teflon with icely rounded edges.

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Permalink Reply by Stewart Coates on December 20, 2016 at 3:41am

Hi Bjorn,

Great to hear that - it is now on my todo list as well ! Thank you.

Neil from Gleda sent a note in response and said he used UHMW - similar friction to Teflon but higher density/durability. His link is here:

http://thegledaproject.com/3562hrs-gaffed/

I think this one is now solved - thanks all for your suggestions.

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Permalink Reply by Björn on December 20, 2016 at 2:06pm

This is the material: http://www.murtfeldt.de/produkte/kunststoffe/werkstoff-s-gruppe/ori...
PTFE should be much better suited.