NMEA 0183 - Seatalk- Seatalkng

I've been searching threads on the networking topic trying to figure out the best course of action for networking all of my current equipment with my new gS165. I have the Cummins Vessel View and the 7001 Raymarine Auto Pilot as well as the Raymarine VHF all communicating across what I assume is NMEA 0183. I see an E85001 Interface that my E120 was connected to using just bare wire spurs. The gS165 will accept 0183 data but I want to install Fusion Audio and other goodies down the road so I figure Ill install a Seatalkng backbone to network all of the new equipment. I'm wondering the best way to get the vessel view which I assume was operating thru the E85001 to the E120 to talk to the New gS165 display. It seems to me the vessel view is on 0183 which is converted to Seatalk1 now. Do I now convert again to Seatalkng or go from 0183 directly to Seatalkng? Id like to have all the old stuff that still works and is communicating on 0183 on a single back bone that then interfaces to SeaTalkng. Are you as confused as I am yet? I think Im getting a handle on what I need to do Just looking for more guidance from those who already invented the wheel

Your Vessel View is obtaining data from the Mercury Cummins Smartcraft networks.
Your E120 (if as originally installed) operates on Raymarine Seatalk 1, Seatalk HS, and NMEA0183
Your Autopilot communicates with the E120 via Seatalk 1 and with the GPS via NMEA0183.
Your Sirius XM Weather, communications between the E120's, and DSM300 depth sounder communicate through the Seatalk HS ethernet network.
The Smartcraft networks (there are three network data systems for each engine) do not exchange data with the Raymarine data systems nor NMEA0183.
The Smartcraft three networks are CAN P, CAN H, and CAN V (CAN = Control Area Network)
If you have Zeus drives then there is a CAN X....
CAN P is the engine specific data and essentially the industry J1939 standard that heavy equipment and large trucks use.
CAN H is the boat's propulsion related systems like transmission, rudder position, depth, paddlewheels, etc and are converted to Smartcraft data via those SIM modules mounted on the engines.
CAN V is used for the generator data. CAN V was discontinued in 2010 and Mercury no longer supports it; this means Vessel View cannot see generator data.
I have put the Smartcraft network data, Raymarine data, Nmea 0183 and just finished the old CAN V generator data (thanks alnav) all on a NMEA 2000 backbone and adapted the NMEA 2000 to the Raymarine NG. Everything on the boat is now seamless and useable with any upgrades.

ttmott said:

Your Vessel View is obtaining data from the Mercury Cummins Smartcraft networks.
Your E120 (if as originally installed) operates on Raymarine Seatalk 1, Seatalk HS, and NMEA0183
Your Autopilot communicates with the E120 via Seatalk 1 and with the GPS via NMEA0183.
Your Sirius XM Weather, communications between the E120's, and DSM300 depth sounder communicate through the Seatalk HS ethernet network.
The Smartcraft networks (there are three network data systems for each engine) do not exchange data with the Raymarine data systems nor NMEA0183.
The Smartcraft three networks are CAN P, CAN H, and CAN V (CAN = Control Area Network)
If you have Zeus drives then there is a CAN X....
CAN P is the engine specific data and essentially the industry J1939 standard that heavy equipment and large trucks use.
CAN H is the boat's propulsion related systems like transmission, rudder position, depth, paddlewheels, etc and are converted to Smartcraft data via those SIM modules mounted on the engines.
CAN V is used for the generator data. CAN V was discontinued in 2010 and Mercury no longer supports it; this means Vessel View cannot see generator data.
I have put the Smartcraft network data, Raymarine data, Nmea 0183 and just finished the old CAN V generator data (thanks alnav) all on a NMEA 2000 backbone and adapted the NMEA 2000 to the Raymarine NG. Everything on the boat is now seamless and useable with any upgrades.

Click to expand...

ttmott said:

Your Vessel View is obtaining data from the Mercury Cummins Smartcraft networks.
Your E120 (if as originally installed) operates on Raymarine Seatalk 1, Seatalk HS, and NMEA0183
Your Autopilot communicates with the E120 via Seatalk 1 and with the GPS via NMEA0183.
Your Sirius XM Weather, communications between the E120's, and DSM300 depth sounder communicate through the Seatalk HS ethernet network.
The Smartcraft networks (there are three network data systems for each engine) do not exchange data with the Raymarine data systems nor NMEA0183.
The Smartcraft three networks are CAN P, CAN H, and CAN V (CAN = Control Area Network)
If you have Zeus drives then there is a CAN X....
CAN P is the engine specific data and essentially the industry J1939 standard that heavy equipment and large trucks use.
CAN H is the boat's propulsion related systems like transmission, rudder position, depth, paddlewheels, etc and are converted to Smartcraft data via those SIM modules mounted on the engines.
CAN V is used for the generator data. CAN V was discontinued in 2010 and Mercury no longer supports it; this means Vessel View cannot see generator data.
I have put the Smartcraft network data, Raymarine data, Nmea 0183 and just finished the old CAN V generator data (thanks alnav) all on a NMEA 2000 backbone and adapted the NMEA 2000 to the Raymarine NG. Everything on the boat is now seamless and useable with any upgrades.

Click to expand...

I’m about to install the Bluetooth vessel view unit to take my systems monitor to another level and this sounds like so much more. I have an 01 380 DA with original plotter, autopilot, etc. If in the future I want to upgrade to MFD and so forth, do companies like raymarine know how to bring the boat up to snuff so everything is networked? I ask because I got lost reading this reply and don’t even know which protocols each piece of equipment I have communicates with.

ttmott said:

Your Vessel View is obtaining data from the Mercury Cummins Smartcraft networks.
Your E120 (if as originally installed) operates on Raymarine Seatalk 1, Seatalk HS, and NMEA0183
Your Autopilot communicates with the E120 via Seatalk 1 and with the GPS via NMEA0183.
Your Sirius XM Weather, communications between the E120's, and DSM300 depth sounder communicate through the Seatalk HS ethernet network.
The Smartcraft networks (there are three network data systems for each engine) do not exchange data with the Raymarine data systems nor NMEA0183.
The Smartcraft three networks are CAN P, CAN H, and CAN V (CAN = Control Area Network)
If you have Zeus drives then there is a CAN X....
CAN P is the engine specific data and essentially the industry J1939 standard that heavy equipment and large trucks use.
CAN H is the boat's propulsion related systems like transmission, rudder position, depth, paddlewheels, etc and are converted to Smartcraft data via those SIM modules mounted on the engines.
CAN V is used for the generator data. CAN V was discontinued in 2010 and Mercury no longer supports it; this means Vessel View cannot see generator data.
I have put the Smartcraft network data, Raymarine data, Nmea 0183 and just finished the old CAN V generator data (thanks alnav) all on a NMEA 2000 backbone and adapted the NMEA 2000 to the Raymarine NG. Everything on the boat is now seamless and useable with any upgrades.

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Did each one of the systems that you put on the NMEA 2000 backbone require a separate interface device? I see several pictogram schematics with equipment connected to the NMEA 2000 but it is unclear how they actually interface.

I can give you how I did it but there are many different means some not so good.
Smartcraft CAN P and CAN H (sometimes called CAN 1 and CAN 2) to NMEA 2000 - I used the NMEA 2000 port on my Vessel View 7 to connect to the NMEA 2000 backbone and to exchange the data; this works very well. If you have Diesel View then you will not have a NMEA 2000 port to use and will need to use another means to convert the Smartcraft data. You could possible use the NMEA0183 port on the display then convert that to NMEA 2000 using an Actisense NGW1 but I'm unsure what data will come across.... Another option may be to use one of the Mercury Smartcraft Engine converters but me thinks the CAN H data will be lost; I don't know....
Smartcraft CAN V (sometimes called CAN 3) to NMEA 2000 - I used a Maretron J2K100 J1939 to NMEA 2000 converter. This is for a Cummins Onan generator with a Network Interface Module installed which will be a Smartcraft NIM. The Smartcraft NIM will need to be converted from Smartcraft data output to J1939 data output which entails cutting one of the jumpers (Jumper W2) on the board and then modifying the data cable for 120 ohm resistors on both ends. The 120 ohm resistors are required on all CAN networks (Smartcraft are the yellow plugs in the harnesses and J-boxes, NMEA 2000 are the backbone terminators, and I used the Smartcraft yellow plugs for the J1939 data cable). If you have Diesel View then this is not required as Diesel View will still display CAN V.
Raymarine E120 Seatalk 1 to NMEA 2000 - There is a port on the back of the E120's labeled Seatalk 2 or Seatalk NG; this port is essentially NMEA 2000 but requires an adapter cable and junction block to adapt to the NMEA 2000 backbone. Easy Conversion however there are reports that the Seatalk 1 port on the E120 will be disabled when using the Seatalk 2 port. If you have an Autopilot that communicates via Seatalk 1 you may have issues; I changed to an X10 course computer which uses Seatalk NG.
NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 - I used an Actisense NGW1 to translate the NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000. I have an original NMEA 0183 depth transducer than is still in use and convert that as a secondary depth sounder.
Sea Ray Systems Monitor to NMEA 2000 - I used a Maretron RIM100 Discrete Run Indicator to NMEA 2000 to convert all of the system monitor channels to NMEA 2000 data and replaced the Systems Monitor Display with a Maretron DSM410 NMEA 2000 display. I did a write-up on that mod on this Forum.
GPS NMEA 0183 to GPS NMEA 2000 - Replaced the Raymarine GPS with a Garmin GPS-19X which has a NMEA 2000 output; now all of my helm instruments have GPS; no brainer....
VHF NMEA 0183 data - This data remains connected to the original NMEA 0183 data network that connects to the E120 NMEA 0183 port.
I hope this helps - below is the schematic drawing of my system but doesn't yet have the Smartcraft CAN V modification shown.

I am working on this with our boat now.

How does this play into things. We are trying to get the engine data from the Vessel view to display on the Raymarine Gs16's

https://www.sbmar.com/product/smartcraft-multi-engine-1-4-nmea-2000-gateway/

Looking for the easiest way to get from my Smart Craft vessel view (original to the boat) to Raymarine Gs16 screens.

superwa said:

I’m about to install the Bluetooth vessel view unit to take my systems monitor to another level and this sounds like so much more. I have an 01 380 DA with original plotter, autopilot, etc. If in the future I want to upgrade to MFD and so forth, do companies like raymarine know how to bring the boat up to snuff so everything is networked? I ask because I got lost reading this reply and don’t even know which protocols each piece of equipment I have communicates with.

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Any given manufacturer will sell you a system that is well documented and can be perfectly integrated and with a well defined upgrade path as long as you stay within their ecosystem. As soon as you try to mix components from other companies, there will likely be integration issues. The electronics suppliers tend to create their own versions of standards to keep you within their lifelines, for example, Raymarine SeatalkNG is close, but not quite, NMEA 2000. Adding a component from another supplier might mean a special adapter to convert to NMEA 2000, then another to convert the NMEA 2000 to SeatalkNG at the hardware level. At the software level, the devices might not be able to fully communicate even if they are able to be physically connected. A good installer can overcome lots of these issues, but it's probably best to pick a manufacturer and stick with their equipment for the standard navigation/communication suite.
Upgrade of components outside the nav suite is a whole other can of worms. Smartcraft is a great example. It's never been well documented and even though it started as a cross-platform vision, it's highly focused on Mercury engines these days. The secret here is a lot of research, forum questioning and putting together a detailed plan for where and how far you want to go. Ttmott has provided a great example for this.

ttmott said:

I can give you how I did it but there are many different means some not so good.
Smartcraft CAN P and CAN H (sometimes called CAN 1 and CAN 2) to NMEA 2000 - I used the NMEA 2000 port on my Vessel View 7 to connect to the NMEA 2000 backbone and to exchange the data; this works very well. If you have Diesel View then you will not have a NMEA 2000 port to use and will need to use another means to convert the Smartcraft data. You could possible use the NMEA0183 port on the display then convert that to NMEA 2000 using an Actisense NGW1 but I'm unsure what data will come across.... Another option may be to use one of the Mercury Smartcraft Engine converters but me thinks the CAN H data will be lost; I don't know....
Smartcraft CAN V (sometimes called CAN 3) to NMEA 2000 - I used a Maretron J2K100 J1939 to NMEA 2000 converter. This is for a Cummins Onan generator with a Network Interface Module installed which will be a Smartcraft NIM. The Smartcraft NIM will need to be converted from Smartcraft data output to J1939 data output which entails cutting one of the jumpers (Jumper W2) on the board and then modifying the data cable for 120 ohm resistors on both ends. The 120 ohm resistors are required on all CAN networks (Smartcraft are the yellow plugs in the harnesses and J-boxes, NMEA 2000 are the backbone terminators, and I used the Smartcraft yellow plugs for the J1939 data cable). If you have Diesel View then this is not required as Diesel View will still display CAN V.
Raymarine E120 Seatalk 1 to NMEA 2000 - There is a port on the back of the E120's labeled Seatalk 2 or Seatalk NG; this port is essentially NMEA 2000 but requires an adapter cable and junction block to adapt to the NMEA 2000 backbone. Easy Conversion however there are reports that the Seatalk 1 port on the E120 will be disabled when using the Seatalk 2 port. If you have an Autopilot that communicates via Seatalk 1 you may have issues; I changed to an X10 course computer which uses Seatalk NG.
NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 - I used an Actisense NGW1 to translate the NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000. I have an original NMEA 0183 depth transducer than is still in use and convert that as a secondary depth sounder.
Sea Ray Systems Monitor to NMEA 2000 - I used a Maretron RIM100 Discrete Run Indicator to NMEA 2000 to convert all of the system monitor channels to NMEA 2000 data and replaced the Systems Monitor Display with a Maretron DSM410 NMEA 2000 display. I did a write-up on that mod on this Forum.
GPS NMEA 0183 to GPS NMEA 2000 - Replaced the Raymarine GPS with a Garmin GPS-19X which has a NMEA 2000 output; now all of my helm instruments have GPS; no brainer....
VHF NMEA 0183 data - This data remains connected to the original NMEA 0183 data network that connects to the E120 NMEA 0183 port.
I hope this helps - below is the schematic drawing of my system but doesn't yet have the Smartcraft CAN V modification shown.
View attachment 70027
View attachment 70028
View attachment 70029
View attachment 70030

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Thanks for such a detailed description of what you did. It will help a whole lot as I work thru this upgrade. It seems that I am in good company as several others are doing similar work. Did you have to just figure this out on your own or did you find a resource to guide you? Very few aircraft owners do their own Avionics installs mainly due to the regulations that require certification and FAA documentation. The several avionics installs that I did on my various aircraft over the years was child's play in terms of integration anyway. Way different animals. Seems as though so many marine products are designed for the DIY market but when it comes to integration we are on our own. Just too many variations for someone to offer integration guidance and sell proven install packages. We are lucky to have guys like you on the forum that are willing and able to help.
Again thanks for the effort
Carpe Diem

Carpediem44DB said:

Did you have to just figure this out on your own or did you find a resource to guide you?
Carpe Diem

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Expertise from Forum input and Google tenacity. It's like listening to our Politian's - 99.9% of what they say is no value added but there is that 0.1% nugget that gives you that "aha moment"....Not that I'm throwing any of our friends here under the bus, seriously.
Here is my advice:

• Look to the "end game": what is the ultimate goal to where you want to be in your upgrades / modifications and do what it takes up front to meet those goals. Try not to do anything that you will need to tear out later to achieve the ultimate destination.
• Plan your boat systems around a stable data systems standard: Get a NMEA 2000 certified backbone routed through the boat (engine room to the helm). Almost all quality hardware for marine electronics is being NMEA 2000 certified; even audio entertainment equipment. This is not to say NMEA 2000 doesn't have issues, like a single point failure on the network power supply which will take everything down; but, if you know what you are doing split up the backbone into separate power zones to enable continued operation should a power fuse blow and limit the carnage or run redundant backbones.
• Install / connect NMEA 2000 certified electronics and hardware to the backbone. There are non-certified electronics out there that may crash your NMEA 2000 data system and can consequently put you and your boat at risk; and when it does crash, how does one determine what caused it? I'm a big advocate of Maretron electronics; they are certified, stable, and bullet proof; probably why they are popular with the blue water boats.
• Understand your existing hardware and electronics; is it worth trying to adapt to a new common network? The law of diminishing returns is in play here; Look at the old NMEA 0183 network for example, it's time to ween off of NMEA 0183. There is, unfortunately, Smartcraft and it's evolutions which are so intertwined with the boats engines and helm that replacing is not an option. Adapting to Smartcraft requires knowledge of the system in which there is little data out there unless you are a certified technician with access to Mercury engineering and data; consequently, for most, using the Mercury Smartcraft to NMEA 2000 gateways is probably the safest approach. Of course there is that "we don't need to tell the customer" factor on new equipment; Diesel View to Vessel View is a great example - what buyer / installer would have known that Mercury dropped support of one of the Smartcraft data networks (most Mercury technicians don't know that) with the Vessel View evolution?
• And, of course, Raymarine: Why they won't simply certify and integrate their equipment with the NMEA 2000 standard is mind-boggling... Again as I stated above "Look to the end game", Raymarine goes out of their way to ensure their hardware is not upgradeable and difficult to play well with others. You need this adapter or that cable to connect to this or that and to add their newer generation equipment to previous generations of Raymarine hardware is hit or miss.... Simply go to the Raymarine Forums and read through some of the official Raymarine commentary. There are better options out there.

Tom

ttmott said:

Expertise from Forum input and Google tenacity. It's like listening to our Politian's - 99.9% of what they say is no value added but there is that 0.1% nugget that gives you that "aha moment"....Not that I'm throwing any of our friends here under the bus, seriously.
Here is my advice:

• Look to the "end game": what is the ultimate goal to where you want to be in your upgrades / modifications and do what it takes up front to meet those goals. Try not to do anything that you will need to tear out later to achieve your ultimate destination.
• Plan your boat systems around a stable data systems standard: Get a NMEA 2000 certified backbone routed through the boat (engine room to the helm). Almost all quality hardware for marine electronics is being NMEA 2000 certified; even audio entertainment equipment.
• Install / connect NMEA 2000 certified electronics and hardware to the backbone. There are non-certified electronics out there that may crash your NMEA 2000 data system and can consequently put you and your boat at risk; and when it does crash, how does one determine what caused it? I'm a big advocate of Maretron electronics; they are certified, stable, and bullet proof; probably why they are popular with the blue water boats.
• Understand your existing hardware and electronics; is it worth trying to adapt to a new common network? The law of diminishing returns is in play here; Look at the old NMEA 0183 network for example, it's time to ween off of NMEA 0183. There is, unfortunately, Smartcraft and it's evolutions which are so intertwined with the boats engines and helm that replacing is not an option. Adapting to Smartcraft requires knowledge of the system in which there is little data out there unless you are a certified technician with access to Mercury engineering and data; consequently, for most, using the Mercury Smartcraft to NMEA 2000 adapters is probably the safest approach. Of course there is that "we don't need to tell the customer" factor on new equipment; Diesel View to Vessel View is a great example - what buyer / installer would have known that Mercury dropped support of one of the Smartcraft data networks (most Mercury technicians don't know that) with the Vessel View evolution?
• And, of course, Raymarine: Why they won't simply certify and integrate their equipment with the NMEA 2000 standard is mind-boggling... Again as I stated above "Look to the end game", Raymarine goes out of their way to ensure their hardware is not upgradeable and difficult to play well with others. You need this adapter or that cable to connect to this or that and to add their newer generation equipment to previous generations of Raymarine hardware is hit or miss.... Simply go to the Raymarine Forums and read through some of the official Raymarine commentary. There are better options out there.

Tom

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Great advice Tom, I am definitely taking my time on this, I kind of jumped the gun on buying the 165 because the E120 died and I didn't want to just replace it. once I get the right gps Antenna to work I will be back to where I was in terms of basic info at the helm. The rest is just sparkly trimmings to doodle with for me. I'm going to design the system that I eventually want to live with and then build it as I go along. The first thing I will be doing though is getting the NMEA 2000 Back Bone installed and then possibly see about upgrading the Smartcraft to the most current iteration before I attempt to integrate to the MFD. I know that if I adapt my current 13 year old system now it will decide to call it quits! Thanks again for the advice. I may reach out occasionally for a hand and certainly share what I'm doing and learning.

Here is an edit to my previous posting, in red below:
Smartcraft CAN P and CAN H (sometimes called CAN 1 and CAN 2) to NMEA 2000 - I used the NMEA 2000 port on my Vessel View 7 to connect to the NMEA 2000 backbone and to exchange the data; this works very well. If you have Diesel View then you will not have a NMEA 2000 port to use and will need to use another means to convert the Smartcraft data. You could possible use the NMEA0183 port on the display then convert that to NMEA 2000 using an Actisense NGW1 but I'm unsure what data will come across.... Another option may be to use one of the Mercury Smartcraft Engine converters but me thinks the CAN H data will be lost; I don't know.... Mercury Smartcraft makes two NMEA 2000 gateways- one is for CAN P - P/N 8M0151748 and one for CAN H - P/N 8M0095543. You would be into this conversion for about $1K; might be a better solution for several hundred more to step to a new Vessel View display....

ttmott said:

Here is an edit to my previous posting, in red below:
Smartcraft CAN P and CAN H (sometimes called CAN 1 and CAN 2) to NMEA 2000 - I used the NMEA 2000 port on my Vessel View 7 to connect to the NMEA 2000 backbone and to exchange the data; this works very well. If you have Diesel View then you will not have a NMEA 2000 port to use and will need to use another means to convert the Smartcraft data. You could possible use the NMEA0183 port on the display then convert that to NMEA 2000 using an Actisense NGW1 but I'm unsure what data will come across.... Another option may be to use one of the Mercury Smartcraft Engine converters but me thinks the CAN H data will be lost; I don't know.... Mercury Smartcraft makes two NMEA 2000 gateways- one is for CAN P - P/N 8M0151748 and one for CAN H - P/N 8M0095543. You would be into this conversion for about $1K; might be a better solution for several hundred more to step to a new Vessel View display....

Click to expand...

We have the smart craft vessel view and both ports are in use.

I was told we needed this part to make the conversion to NMEA 2000 so we could then get to the Raymarine MFD.
https://www.sbmar.com/product/smartcraft-multi-engine-1-4-nmea-2000-gateway/

Is a new vessel view the way to go? If the above part will do the job I am assuming I need some sort of adaptor as I don't have any open ports on the back of the smart craft display

Zach312 said:

We have the smart craft vessel view and both ports are in use.

I was told we needed this part to make the conversion to NMEA 2000 so we could then get to the Raymarine MFD.
https://www.sbmar.com/product/smartcraft-multi-engine-1-4-nmea-2000-gateway/

Is a new vessel view the way to go? If the above part will do the job I am assuming I need some sort of adaptor as I don't have any open ports on the back of the smart craft display

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Is not one of those capped ports NMEA 2000?
If it is NMEA 2000 you will not need any other converter as long as both CAN P and CAN H are integrated into the VV.

One looks like USB and the other a phone style jack.

The part i referenced above apparently plugs into the J box (the source of the wiring that plugs into the vessel view) then i will need to convert from NMEA 2000 to Seatalk to get the data into the Raymarine MFD's

Does this sound right? I can't get to the boat to investigate until later this week.

Zach312 said:

One looks like USB and the other a phone style jack.

The part i referenced above apparently plugs into the J box (the source of the wiring that plugs into the vessel view) then i will need to convert from NMEA 2000 to Seatalk to get the data into the Raymarine MFD's

Does this sound right? I can't get to the boat to investigate until later this week.

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I believe you will find two different Smartcraft Gateways available which specifically interface with the boat's Control Area Networks (CAN); one for CAN P which is the engines systems and one is for CAN H which is for the other connected hardware to the Smartcraft system like DTS, fuel level, rudder position, depth, speed, and whatever else. The one you reference is for CAN P. In the Smartcraft connectors and J-Boxes pins G&H are CAN H (sometimes called CAN 2), J&K are CAN P (sometimes called CAN 1), and C&D are CAN V (sometimes called CAN 3). The earlier Diesel View displays did not accommodate CAN H but all Vessel View did from my understanding. CAN V is generator which is supported by Diesel View but not Vessel View.
I would be cautious about stacking gateways...

I just installed a new Garmin transducer on our 500 and wanted to get b&g autopilot to communicate which is 0183. We also added a new garmin gps plotter so Im planning a 2k back bone and adding from there first autopilot some engine monitoring and AIS has anyone tried a/c systems/cruisair? we are updating and want bildge alarms, security and temp sys as well as entertainment via IPAD

Those of you who have upgraded their smart craft vessel view or diesel view systems, did you go with the new vessel view version 4,403 ,703 or convert to SMX system? I like the navigation integration for recording trip data that smart craft offers and I like the C-Cruise functions as well. It looks like I would lose that by going SMX. My main interest is NMEA 2000 compatibility to eventually display on the gS165 MFD.
CD

Carpediem44DB said:

Those of you who have upgraded their smart craft vessel view or diesel view systems, did you go with the new vessel view version 4,403 ,703 or convert to SMX system? I like the navigation integration for recording trip data that smart craft offers and I like the C-Cruise functions as well. It looks like I would lose that by going SMX. My main interest is NMEA 2000 compatibility to eventually display on the gS165 MFD.
CD

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Based on my experience, unless your current display is shot, I think if I were you I would go straight to a NMEA 2000 gateway solution to establish that capability and see if using the MFD for engine data works for you; the answer to that will better inform whether you want to further augment/replace your existing setup. The Mercury Smartcraft to NMEA 2000 gateway is the conventional choice. There is also a company called Yacht Devices that offers a less expensive J1939 gateway that possesses a Smartcraft mode and can be ordered with a SeatalkNG connector for about $200.
My experience:
I replaced my DieselView at the beginning of last season. I looked at SMX, but they would have been a dash real estate issue, plus, at the time, I would have lost both C-Cruise and my analog-style gauges. SMX now has an option to retain the Smartcraft harness and keep both so if you go that way I think you will want to make sure you get the Smartcraft-compatible version. All in, I think this will run you about $3K.
I went with the VesselView (VV) 4, primarily to save dash area. The display is obviously small and the user interface involves multiple and sometimes confusing button-pressing. There is no capability to auto-cycle between more than a few parameters at a time. Although I don't think any of this is critical for regular cruising use, in hindsight, I wish I had found the room for a VesselView 5 or 7.
There are other issues with VesselView. As ttmott described earlier, Mercury deprecated VV to delete support for CAN V several years ago; the VV can still display it but only as a NMEA2K input. So, if you currently have the capability to see generator data on your Smartcraft display and want/need to keep it, you will have to install a separate J1939 to NMEA2K gateway. This is true with SMX as well and keeping generator data in that setup would require a J1939/N2K gateway and yet another display. Additionally, and perhaps more troubling, SB Marine (great resource) is reporting that the current family of VV units does not support C-Cruise or Smartcraft gauges. I suspect there is a DIY workaround for this but it would probably require a significant amount of legwork. So, if you go with VV, I think you will want to find an earlier version, new do still seem to be available and used are on the market as well. There's an argument to be made to get one ASAP if you really want/need to eventually go there.