T&T: Synchronizers

[Albin43SDtr]

'Lo All,

First of all.....Merry Christmas! And yes, Santa was good to me! :) 
Whew. I was sweating it out!

Sychronizers are not mandatory on any boat. However, they surely make 
cruising more pleasurable. The Glendinning sychronizer on the 
Celestial is engaged at almost all times, except when maneuvering in 
close quarters.

It is possible to manually synchronize the engines. BUT....when 
turning, the loads on the engines vary, so, when running a twisty 
channel without synchronizers, either the engines are out of sych or 
one must constantly be fiddling with the throttles. We live about a 
mile from the center of the Gulf Intracoastal Water Way (GIWW) . The 
tows running the GIWW here have to make a big "S" turn to follow the 
channel. Those big diesels can be heard - and felt, either in sync or 
throbbing horribly out of sync. When those that are out of sync get 
straightened out, the skipper immediately re-syncs them, so it isn't 
that he doesn't care, he just has other things to worry about - such 
as not hitting the high-voltage power line towers or the Tyndall Bridge piers.

I like the engines to be in sync, so when running a boat without a 
synchonizer, I play with the throttles as necessary when I can - and 
grit my teeth when I can't (envision fingernails scraping on a 
blackboard). On the Celestial, I can watch the water, charts and 
other stuff and enjoy the cruise much more than if I was manually 
re-sync'ing the engines. I guess it should be said, the Celestial had 
the synchronizer on it when we bought her, but I would put one on if 
there wasn't.

Digital tachs can tell you what the exact engine RPMs are, but that 
doesn't match the engine RPMs. I don't need to know what the exact 
RPMs are. The tach readings are relative and repeatable. I know what 
power settings the Celestial likes. I feel and hear the engines 
sync'ed or non-sync'ed. The feel and sound of non-synch'ed engines is 
what I don't like.

IMVHO, a good engine sychronizer is WAY more important and beneficial 
than digital tachs, but neither is a true necessity. If it were a 
choice between the two, I would save my money for a sychnonizer.

Have a great, safe, and Happy New Year!

Take care and be safe.

Wayne
M/V Celestial
Albin43 Sundeck