Tandem Cycling - Crank Shortners??

I have just purchased a used Burley Tamburello for my almost 9 yr old and me. I knew he couldnt quite reach the pedals and thought i could rememdy this with a small wooden block. Looks like i need more, but not wanting a huge 2-1/2 to 3" of wooden block, I am wondering what alternatives i have. I was told about crank shortners and see some online. Is this the way to go for the next year or so?? thanks

Crank shortners won't help reduce the reach to the pedals. Crank shortners reduce the crank arm length. You need to either lower the seat, raise the bottom bracket or use wood blocks so that your 9yo can reach the pedals. Your best option will probably be a stokid, child stoker kit, kidback (http://www.precisiontandems.com/artkidbackinstall.htm).

Crank shorteners worked well to reduce the reach to the pedals for my 7 YO. The condiition with them is they increase the Q factor a lot.

An elegant solution is the daVinci 3 hole crank.

Note that all the above devices needed the threads chased for the pedals to fit correctly. Thats 14 pedal threads I had to clean out/chase.

An option that I`m considering is a set of Thorn cranks. Currently about US$162 from SJS, who is apparently accustomed to shipping from England to North America. I don`t know what the shipping would add, but it seems to be a much cleaner solution than the crank shorteners which run ~$100 anyway. Thorns come in 5mm increments from 140 up. Might be worth a phone call to find out.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=1671&changecurrency=USD

I just switched from a child stoker setup to crank shorteners for my 9yo stoker. The crank shorteners are nice because I've got an adult stoker as well and switching back and forth is easy. I've had to slam the saddle all the way down and put the pedals as close to center as allowed to get appropriate fit for the 9yo, but it works well. The downside I feel is he doesn't have as much mechanical advantage on the pedals as he would with somewhat longer cranks.

crank shorteners work great for me and my 9 yr old. she might not need them by next summer.

Crankarm shortners worked well for my daughter and I also. With the seat slammed she couldn't reach the bottom of the stroke. The shorteners made an effective crank length of 140. She was on them for approximately a year before we were able to retire them. All that said it's a good temporary solution if you're anticipating your 9 year old growing into the bike.

I just switched my stoker's cranks to 140 mm Bulletproof cranks (http://www.bikepartsusa.com/mas_assets/full/01-98434.jpg). I can always go back to the 170's, but I personally prefer short crank arms, so I envy the stoker. Finding 140's for the captain's crank is going to be more difficult....

Rhm, did you use a stoker crankset, or somehow modify one intended for a single? They look like another budget friendly option, but Google doesn`t show me any tandem specific cranks from Bulletproof. If it was tandem specific, where did you find them?
EDIT: Oh, I see in another post that you have a Counterpoint. I guess they use single cranksets.