Bertram33 User Forum

What are the opinions on sychronizers. I was looking at the Glendenning unit but haven't made a choice yet. Whoever can chime in would be great

I know my brother's got Glendenning on his Vike and he loves them. Crusader offers a sync package with their 8.1's. Does Merc have one that you can retro fit or add on?

Hey Bob I have sold my boat and have cash in hand and I am interested in your boat. I am trying to find one before the winter sets in. Call me 516-351-7830 Jeff

If you re power with electronic controls the engines are always in sync. The glendnings are good but a lot of money. The ear still works very well!

I have Glendenning and it works great on my Cummins. I would buy another Glendenning. I've heard they have good customer service but I haven't needed it. Buzz

I purchased a Accusync synchronizer last year, they are in Wilmington NC, one of the members of this b33 site shipped it back home for me, I priced them all it was the best deal I could find, Great service from them even back here in Australia, and works extremely well , can't speak highly enough of the Company, hope that helps Aussie Syd

Aetna digital tachs may accomplish what you are looking for at quite a bit less effort and money.

I have the electronic sync n cruise from Crusader. a real nice feature. Just press a button and you can set the speed too. Bump it up or down just like a car. Gene Dugan Boca Raton, Fl. "Nauti Marie" 1989 33 FBC 2007 8.1 Crusaders

When my boat is running I'm using my Glendenning unless I'm docking. I think a sync and a autopilot are must have items. Once you get used to using one you'll never do without one. Buzz

Most of the guys that have them say the same exact thing. I don't have either and don't plan on getting either, but I agree with Buzz. The problem I have is the cost (for the auto-pilot anyway). It seems like its a minimum of $2K.

I returned home today from being onboard a friend's fast trawler for 18 days... he is doing the great loop and we were on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. We did about 650 miles, and used his syncronizers (Glendenning) almost all the time, except for anchoring/docking. After this experience I would say if you are doing a lot of cruising or making any kind of long passages they are a necessity. We were constantly slowing down for either towboats pushing barges or fishermen on bass boats, and not having to fiddle with two throttles under these circumstances was a real joy.

Boy that must have killed you to go from 7 knots all the way to 4 knots and back again![;)] Kidding aside, how was the trip?

The trip was interesting and a lot of fun! My comment about changing speed was based on the fact that it was a lot easier to just set one throttle and have the other automatically follow, rather than have to tweak both engines. I have never felt with analog tachs I was doing a good job of matching engine speeds by ear, so having a system that does this for me was a pleasure. Some of the fishermen were anchored just off the channels, so we were changing speeds often, from 8 knots to barely moving and back again. Everybody in that part of the world seems to have a bass boat which had about 8" of freeboard and one or two elevated seats. Some guys were standing while fishing... it would have been easy for our wake to cause someone to fall into the water if we did not slow way down. We went through 6 locks.. the largest one had a lift of about 93'.. supposedly one of the highest lift locks in the world. There are tugs pushing 2 to 12 barges everywhere.. they have only about 18" of freeboard so we slowed down for them also. I don't want to highjack this string so I won't say much more here. We had a great time!