Road Noise Reduction (Not paddling related DIY)

[Sweetfancymoses]

Not paddling related DIY.

Every once in a while I have to haul a 20' extension ladder on my roof rack 3 hours down the road. The open rungs act like a pan flute from hell and force me to sing jolly voyageur tunes at the top of my lungs to keep from going insane. I took some foam pipe insulation (approx. 3-1/2" outside diameter), split it in half, cut off 1" slices, and trimmed off a little pie shaped piece so it forms a D-shaped plug. 20 rungs and 40 plugs later: voilà (or viola as spell check insists on).

 

[Guest]

Gotta love split foam pipe insulation, handy for so many things.

When I put the shop AC in yesterday I used a piece of skinny split foam pipe insulation to fill the gap between the double hung windows. It stuffs in and seals that gap much better than the cheesy piece of open cell foam provided with window AC units.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

... fill the gap between the double hung windows. It stuffs in and seals that gap much better than the cheesy piece of open cell foam provided with window AC units.

Yep, I did that too. If I could only remember where I put it over the winter.

 

[Odyssey]

Seems like a lot of faffing about just to reduce a little rooftop road muzak. Mind you, I've never heard you sing Moses so it might well have been worth it.
I carry ladders sometimes and the slasher movie screams coming from just above my head makes my hair stand on end, just a little. The CD player doesn't work so I'm stuck with whatever tunes I can find on the radio. I'll sing to just about anything. The A/C doesn't work either so with the windows down I've gotta sing along in full throttle to balance the outside howls with the inside yowls. I've found quite by accident the din from above disappears below highway speeds of about 80 kilometers per hour. One more reason to take the backroads, but that doesn't guarantee I won't still be singing.

 

[Guest]

The CD player doesn't work so I'm stuck with whatever tunes I can find on the radio. I'll sing to just about anything.

It is hard to sing along to NPR loud enough to drown out ladder noise. That's when I reach for the Hendrix CD's; crank that crap up brutha!