Glendenning Syncs.

[(Nobody You Know)]

I was told that once I reach my desired speed I should then activate the Glendenning Syncronizer, and that starting off from idle with the syncs activated causes stress to the system soloids (or something). Can anyone shed some light on this please?

Bill

 

[Pascal]

i have the manual (marked 1982), it says that it can be operated from idle thru the normal cruising speed range.

under operations it says...

advance speed slightly above idle, switch on, move slave engine lever to maximum speed position which eliminate undue strain in moving the entire control system.

guess i should have read the manual.. never done that before.

 

[Genesis]

You can do either, BUT you are overloading the master engine SEVERELY if you use it to come up on plane quickly.

That is, the time it requires to advance the throttle of the slave engine is significant.

You won't hurt the sync, but you might hurt the engine.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Really? I doubt that overloading an engine for the 30-60 seconds it takes for the other one to catch up would have any effect at all. If you think about industrial/commercial applications, diesels are momentarily overloaded everyday. There is the truck driver who has to downshift while pulling up a steep grade, the front-end loader pushing into the pile to fill the bucket, or the rock crusher that has too much material fall into it before the operator slows the feed rate down. All of those scenarios last longer than the time it takes for the Glendenning to catch up.

Our mechanics used to say that a boat is the best application for a diesel-- It gets clean air, it has constant load, and you always get a warm up and a cool down period (going into and out of port).

 

[Genesis]

Well, you can run yours however you want, but I don't slam throttles around - figuratively or otherwise - except in emergencies.

The way I see it, there's no reason to. Bring 'em up slowly, let the turbos spool up before you ask for real power, you get no black smoke, no burbling and no complaints - and no excessive stress.

I just don't see the value in doing the glendinning thing coming out of the hole. Why? Just bring up both levers and then once you're on plane turn it on.

Works for me but YMMV.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I agree in not "slamming" the throttles. My point is that if you leave the Glendening on and advance the one lever at a gradual rate as you would with the two levers, you will not be overloading the slave enough to cause any damage. The sychronizer can be used at any RPM and if used "responsibly", you will not have any problems. In fact, when you advance without the sync on you are not moving both engines faster at the same identical RPM either. You invariably will have one lagging engine until you are reach your desired cruise.

 

[captddis]

Look at boats that rebuilt one engine at a time and most of the time it is the lead engine. Also almost all the Glendinning clutch problems I see are because the limit stops are not set correctly and the unit is on at idle. Make sure it shuts itself off at dead idle and wide open. I always bring both up to speed and then turn the synch on. I also do not bother with it in the ditch. I love the people who have the synch on when docking then need to give one engine a shot . I always feel that there are things people can do to lessen stress on the equipment. This is one of them.

 

[Genesis]

What's even funnier is when you run into a solenoid that sticks on - it happens guys, I've had it happen myself.

Think about that one in close-quarters......

 

[Nonchalant1]

I run mine all the time when I'm not manuevering. When I plane, I bring it up slowly, letting the controlled engine catch up with the master slowly as I go up. Same thing coming down. With a synch available, there's no reason to have the engines fighting the rudder a little because they're unbalanced, and no reason to have that extra thrumming noise of unsynched Detroits. I just like the synch. Also amazing how accurate it is. No digital chips in it, just pure mechanical function, but it gets within 2 or 3 RPM all the time.

Even though I have no facts to back it up, it also seems reasonable that if you move the throttle in moderation that the engine should be fine with that. Every time you accelerate, synch or no, they're temporarily more loaded, but I doubt that it's overloaded, given the length of time it takes for them to even out. Karl's probably right about ramming the throttle up fast, but that's hardly necessary. I'm not trying to get a skier up out of the hole.

Doug Shuman

 

[Pascal]

i usually turn it on after i have the boat out of the slip, for a simple reason, i don't have switch on the FB to turn it on... there is an numarked switch i've been too lazy to trace which could be for the Glenn. but it's just as easy to turn it on after i rotated out and before i head upstairs. Otherwise, I've taught my 11 year old daughter which switches it it and a good yell normally result in imediate action on the switch

I always accelerate gradually, 100rpm at a time and don't go over 1500 anyway.... so no risk of overloading the port engine! if i accelerate or decelerate faster there is a slight lag time which can be felt with the bow inching over one side mometarily, not even enough to compensate.

 

[Nonchalant1]

Pascal,

Mine has a synch switch with the little red light on the bridge. It's operates like a 3-way light switch so if you trun it on on the bridge, you have to switch it to what would normally be "on" at the lower helm to turn it back off.
They might not be the same though, since Hatt changed the bridge controls in 77-78.

Doug

i usually turn it on after i have the boat out of the slip, for a simple reason, i don't have switch on the FB to turn it on... there is an numarked switch i've been too lazy to trace which could be for the Glenn. but it's just as easy to turn it on after i rotated out and before i head upstairs. Otherwise, I've taught my 11 year old daughter which switches it it and a good yell normally result in imediate action on the switch

I always accelerate gradually, 100rpm at a time and don't go over 1500 anyway.... so no risk of overloading the port engine! if i accelerate or decelerate faster there is a slight lag time which can be felt with the bow inching over one side mometarily, not even enough to compensate.

 

[Genesis]

Its an amazingly simple device, really. The folks who designed it had a spate of pure genius that day......

 

[captddis]

Another thing to think about using the synch at low speed is , guess what happens if the slave engine cable breaks when synch is on. It will try to catch up and go wide open. Takes a second to realize what happens. I bring mine up together and have no problem synching them. After you run a boat for a while you can pretty much set the throttles with out looking. I find it much smoother and faster doing it manually, especially when passing in the waterway. Also around here the water is shallow and I want to get up on plane and not wallow around at the transition speed and drag bottom.

 

[Genesis]

Yep-yep.

I have a feel for the boat and its power, and can give it just enough throttle - but no more - to load the engines to where they do not smoke, but accelerate smartly. With a bit of effort I can sync as good as the glendinning too (no "thrum-thrum" beat) but its easier to just snap it on once I'm where I want to be in terms of RPM.

I've had it stick on though - so I am veeeeery careful about using it if I might need to get off the throttle in a hurry. If you slap the master down it will take a few seconds before the slave responds, during which time you will yaw HARD from the differential thrust. That can be a bad surprise if it happens in the wrong circumstances.....

 

[MikeP]

Never had one before and I now really like the synchronizer. Essentially, once I'm out of the marina but still idling up the channel in the no-wake area, I turn it on. It stays on until I am back where I need to maneuver with differential thrust. It is NOT good to have on if you need to go in/out of gear or use differential thrust from the props.

The yawing on fairly hard acceleration/deceleration surprised me the first time - I actually thought something was wrong with the boat until I realized that synching wasn't instantaneous. Now I automatically correct for it. I normally accelerate with it on. I never firewall the throttle anyway - just ease it up - I probably take 7-8 seconds to move the throttele from idle to full.

THe throttle return springs on our boat were set up by the previous owner specifically with the Sync in mind. The slave engine throttle will not stay in any position except idle or, if the sync is on, at full throttle. If you manually place it at say, 1500 RPM, it will drift back to idle in 10-15 seconds. This means that if the sync failed, I would have to physically hold or somehow secure the throttle lever where I want it (or go down and adjust the return-spring tension.). I have often thought of adjusting the return spring but it works so well that I approach it from the "why mess with success" aspect.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

My return spring is quite tight. I have to push the slave to WOT position after turning on the sync. If I don't, it takes a while for the Glendenning to pull that slave linkage. Having the slave all the way forward also helps to remind me that the sync is turned on.

I've never owned a boat with a synchronizer on her either. At first I found myself questioning the true sychronization by carefully listening to the engines. I sure wish my friend had these on his 45 Cary with the 3 engines. I was always playing with that thing to sychronize those 3. I would get 2 of them running together, but that last one was always a problem.

 

[MarioG]

reminds me of a situation a friend found himself in a few years ago flying a twin engine Piper Aztec with syncro-phasors on the engines. one day he's flying along fat, dumb and happy with the sincs on, when he looses the left engine. Can you guess what the right one did too?

 

[Nonchalant1]

Sky,

Pushing the slave throttle to WOT is standard operating procedure for the Glendinning synch. It's what you're supposed to do.

Doug

My return spring is quite tight. I have to push the slave to WOT position after turning on the sync. If I don't, it takes a while for the Glendenning to pull that slave linkage. Having the slave all the way forward also helps to remind me that the sync is turned on.

I've never owned a boat with a synchronizer on her either. At first I found myself questioning the true sychronization by carefully listening to the engines. I sure wish my friend had these on his 45 Cary with the 3 engines. I was always playing with that thing to sychronize those 3. I would get 2 of them running together, but that last one was always a problem.

 

[ThirdHatt]

Were syncs standard equipment on these boats? You all seem to have the same one but my boat does not have one. I think I have sync envy.....

 

[trogers]

newby question..... which is the master and which is the slave?