I know some of your guys say you like that squeel but, it drives me nuts (& admittedly that's a very short trip for me.)
I've tried putting tennis balls split down the middle on the cable but, they manage to fall off pretty quick and even with a couple of them actually stay on, it's still noisy.
Anybody have a trick to quiet them down? It's nice having a quiet kicker motor, but then all I hear is that dam___ed cable squeel.

All the best,

Gary

So what causes the squeal? I've heard it on other boats before (continuously), but on my boat it only happens for a second or two and at that only maybe once every outing or two.

Is it the cable making the squeal or is the vibration coming up the cable causing the sound to amplify in the downrigger body and the hull itself?

Now that I think about it... what type of riggers do you use? All the times I've heard it on other boats they had cannon riggers. Haven't heard that on a boat with Big Jons yet? Kinda makes me think it has something to do with the body? If so, could you put a thin rubber sheet beneath the mount to absorb vibrations...

Or better yet, try putting some of the Simms Vibration reducers on the body like you would a compound bow? You know the thinks I'm talking about? They look like a black mushroom made of rubber. I bought mine at Paugus Bay and can say they help a lot with bow vibrations... Worth a shot.

Guys -- the "singing squeal" -- or eery whine or whatever -- is a natural harmonic -- much like draggin a string on a harp through the water -- that produces the noise. Its a function of how much rigger wire is down, how much wire is exposed between the water and the pulley and of course boat speed. I've heard some people say it only happens on aluminum boats, but I can't vouch for that. On my older little 14-ft. alum rowboat it would happen at almost any speed. Annoying. With my newer 18-ft. Alumacraft Magnum, it happens only once and a while and only if I'm trolling at speeds >2.5 mph, which is not often. At slow troll speeds, I don't hear anything, which is nice.

Of course, I can tell you what is the cause of this weird noise but I have idea how to fix it. I'll ask my physicist father in law...Eric H.

I can say for sure that I've been on a fiberglass boat that CONTIUALLY squealed... at any speed above 2.0... so its not just an aluminum boat problem.

Slip, so that all but confirms boat speed as the biggest variable. I had not experienced the "singing wires" on my new boat until 2 weeks ago when I tried trolling a little faster for 'bows and had it come and go periodically. If we can figure out how to kill this noise we could sell it...

I haven't had the problem since I started using pancake type rigger weights

"The Tank" has an alum. hull. I get the squeel at all but the very slowest speeds (> .5 mph).
The rigger is a cannon easi-troll. Ya, I know it's ancient. Hey, my other rigger is one of the original Riveria's (so old there's no clutch.)If ya, wanta talk about old. Guess which rigger I always run shallower than the other!!!! Come to think of it I don't recall the Riv making the noise (duh)!
Slip- never thought about those vibration dampers (I do bow hunt) might even have one kicking around in the bow takle box. Worth a try.
I'm pretty sure it's coming from the cable as related in one of the threads.
Also, thanks for the idea about the pancake weights. I'll get one & try it.

Gary

I fixed it on my Pontoon boat, I turn up the stereo.

Mine squeals all then time, guess I got used to it ?

John S.

Yours are nothing like others I've been near. Have had a headache from a day on the water aboard another boat last year. Unbelievable how "piercing" that noise can be.

They sell non steel wire to solve that problem, but I couldn't afford to lose it. The white noise it produces is condusive for my sleep patterns......

Problem with the non-steel rigger lines is they don't work with the positive ion control on my Canon Mag 10s nor would it work with a Black Box. But non metal line would surely kill it.

Don't know about vibration damping, but you might make the rigger's "harp string" artificially too long to "sing" if you attached a metal wire with an alligator clip to the rigger wire, perhaps clamping the other end to a metal surface on the boat. Just a thought if anyone cares to try.

Pancake weight or more weight will help depends on speed. I have big jons when the noise gets to me I have small bungee cords I wrap around the boom, then both hooks on the cables adding a little tension. Ball still goes up & down no problem. Works OK. w-fat