The new dash

Stodge

I don't think I ever posted the finished product in use.

Stodge

Showing 1.199 MPG.  Wooo Hoooo.

Dream_Inn

Wish my VesselView had that gas mileage!  Only time I see it is at about 6kts.  Dash looks great!

Stodge

I have to do the math myself.  But as long as MPH is higher than GPH I'm a happy guy.

bella-vita

Looks good!

06Rinker270

Looks fantastic.  Is everything new?

Stodge

No, actually it's all re-used except the dash panel itself.  That's the GPS I already had, just moved from the molded area on the left.  I got the vessel view used on eBay.  The multi gauges (oil, temp, gas, volts) are the originals as well as they sync.

MarkB

Looks nice.

JC290

Nice job 

Stodge

I almost strangled they guy who did it when I found out he removed the GPS to put it there, but I really like having everything together.

06Rinker270

I love the set up.  So easy to read.  Why keep the both sets of gauges if you have the vessel view, back up?

rasbury

how did you fill the whole where the gps came out? I have heard the vessel view bantered about, guess I need to get up to speed with that. Looks sharp and techey!

Stodge

My dash guy made a small panel with the same finish and moved the trim gauges, depth gauge and the fume detector there.

I kept the multi gauges because I don't have smartcraft fuel senders, so that's my only view of the fuel tanks.  Not sure if I'll try to add the smartcraft fuel senders since getting to the tanks is next to impossible.

TonyWalker

It looks like there might be space for a fuel flow gauge below the sync gauge.  I have often praised the virtues of the flow gauge. The digital read out that shows total fuel used is amazingly accurate.  If it says 159 gallons used when you arrive at the fuel dock, your fill up will be within a gallon of that number.  And if you want to know that you are using 12.0 gallons per hour per engine this is the way to monitor that.  BTW, that is one awesome looking panel.

Come to think about it, my FFG is mounted in that little panel just to the left of the left most cup holder.

 

Tony

Salt Shaker 342

Stodge

I get fuel flow from vessel view.  That was the one of the big draws of getting it.  I see GPH when running and there is a trip meter I can reset that shows gallons used.

MarkB

My smart craft system guage also shows GPH and total Gallons used (resettable). So I'd imagine vessel view would also have it.

Michael T

Beautiful job. There are free vessel view up-grades available on line. A Merc dealer can also initialize extra programs as long as your engine can send the data.

06Rinker270

@MarkB do you have the Mercmonitor or does anyone have it?

MarkB

I have the SmartCraft Tach System Guage.  It has an LCD screen and provides system diagnostics, as well as system parameters like oil pressure, water pressure, rpm, gas tank level, gas usage. It isn't as good of a display as Vessel View but it does provide pretty much everything I need.

Here's a picture. It replaces your engine tach guage.

LaRea

I have two Mercmonitors on my 496s.  They are definitely nice, but I'd still like to add a VesselView and ditch some of the analog gauges. Stodge is my new hero.

Dream_Inn

MT, you perked my ears up when you said free vesselview upgrades??  I have the same one stodge has (well, it says cummins on it, but it obviously works for all).  I'd be curious what types of upgrades there are for it.  Is there a web site you may have? 

& yes, I bought my VV for 3 things: fuel flow, accuracy, and monitor alarms.  It is fantastic for all of them.  For instance, two weeks ago I had an alarm and it said it was for gear lube.  I would've never known what it was, in the middle of a trip home because my gear lube level was fine.  But, the sensor in the reservoir had gotten stuck and made the alarm.  I took a toothbrush (hey it's what I had at the time, and no it didn't go back where I got it) and was able to fix it in seconds.

Stodge

The software upgrades I've been able to find are for the newer generation VesselView.  Mine is (I believe) 1st gen.  I contacted Mercury and they confirmed that there was nothing available software-wise for the older VV.  Mercury did tell me I could switch the display to the current version and it would be plug-and-play as they use the same cables.  

Dream_Inn

Thanks Stodge, that's what I figured.  I'm very happy with my current VV, as I got a great price on it on Ebay a few years ago.

06Rinker270

Is VV best for two engines and more complex boats vs mercmonitor for a single engine?  

Stodge

Vessel View is supposed to be able to work with 4 engines.  

LaRea

VV has a much better display, if it fits in your helm (and budget).  If not, you can get all the same engine data from Mercmonitor, but it requires more button-pressing.