Bump in the Night

I have to admit this one had me last night, my knowledge of the local background noises that envelope the boat whilst I am heading to the land of nod is considerable. I can usually identify the sound, locate the source and dismiss it out of hand within a couple of seconds. Last night at around 4am a whole new acoustic barrage started:

"baaaaahhhhhggggooooiiiiiiinnnngggggg" or imagine a drained old fashioned radiator hung up on chains and hit with a little cobblers hammer in repeated but irregular intervals.

Stalking the boat for the source of the noise I discounted all possible internal sources and was faced with a daunting patrol in the cold and pishing rain to annihilate the annoying sound, sleep would evade me till I had. Standing in a big pink furry jacket, cowboy boots and boxer shorts I was reminded how little Northern Scotland is like to Northen Spain.

No obvious flotsam was visible but a small black object was just visible near the tiller, bobbing in time with the wind and rain. The absolute bastard, there it was the hiding in the shadows where it could cause most disturbance clanging off the tiller sending the sound through the whole hull. That sorted I returned to the nest satisfied, pondering how I could mount it so that it would act as a warning to all future disturbances.