Jeff and Wendy,
I had the same problem you had. Mine was caused by a previous owner's careless installation of a whisker pole track that drilled out the rivets holding the pvc pipe that was the conduit. Even in a quiet anchorage in the bahamas with just a hint of swell that would rock you to sleep, the noise was horrible.
It was a relatively easy fix. Bud was helpful in explaining how to do it.
Here is a short explanation:
The mast is drilled thru the conduit every so often. A pop rivet is used to hold the conduit to the mast. The problem is holding the tube to the mast for this operation. About an inch or so next to the rivet point, another small hole is drilled to use a home made stiff wire tool in. Make a sort of hook that is of stiff enough wire to hold the conduit against the side of the mast while drilling and riveting. I used a pair of vise grips to hold the tool up to the mast while drilling and riveting. If you use the right size rivets and are careful with the drill, you can do this with the wire in the conduit. I did and had no trouble. Just be careful and use a bit of tape on the bit for a depth gauge.
After you are done, you can put a pop rivet in your "tool" hole.
Let me know if I can be more clear.
My email is
toolowd AT aol DOT com