Engine Data on a 2002

J

Jersey Steve

New Member
Nov 30, 2019
3
South jersey
Boat Info
2002 Sundancer 300
Engines
5.0 Merc MPIs w/Bravo III
Hi everybody,
I’m a newbie to this forum. In process of purchasing a 2002 Sundancer 300 with 5.0 Mercs. Survey/sea trial in a few days. Has an old Raytheon TriData ST50 and a newer, but basic Garmin GPS. Not sure what info he displays now on the ST50. Plan to do some flooring and electronics upgrades, everything else seems ready to go. What options do I have for this year of boat? Does in have NMEA2000 network communication? Ideally I’d like a decent sized touch screen for chart plotter and a separate display for other data if communications are possible. Admiral says “we are spending enough, no open checkbook”. Thanks for any advice.
 
From the factory you won't have any NMEA 2000 connectivity. However, your engines are likely SmartCraft capable. You'd need to add the wiring harness from each engine, a junction box, and a SmartCraft to NMEA 2000 gateway. From there you'd connect up to an NMEA 2000 capable MFD and/or NMEA data display.
 
I may have over-simplified a bit for brevity. Once you add your first NMEA2000 device, you need to build your network which at a minimum requires a male terminator, a female terminator, a power tap, and a backbone cable. Then you'll need 1 t-connector plus drop cable for each device you are adding.
 
If you are budget limited, the mercury vessel view mobile is a good option. It’s about $200 and transmits all the smartcraft data to your phone over Bluetooth
 
For us 2003 and prior owners, we may be SOL for the Vessel View Mobile. From the website,
Compatible Engines
*VesselView Mobile is compatible with all SmartCraft-compatible Mercury outboards and sterndrive engines (2004 and newer, 40hp and up).
 
Mine is a 2003 and it works. They started converting the motors around 2001. Call mercury with your motor serial number and they will tell you if it will work.
 
DWABoat said:
For us 2003 and prior owners, we may be SOL for the Vessel View Mobile. From the website,
Compatible Engines
*VesselView Mobile is compatible with all SmartCraft-compatible Mercury outboards and sterndrive engines (2004 and newer, 40hp and up).
Click to expand...

It works on my 2002
 
Is the Vessel View better, lesser, or different than the Fox Gateway monitor I have heard of?
 
DWABoat said:
For us 2003 and prior owners, we may be SOL for the Vessel View Mobile. From the website,
Compatible Engines
*VesselView Mobile is compatible with all SmartCraft-compatible Mercury outboards and sterndrive engines (2004 and newer, 40hp and up).
Click to expand...

The operative word is “may”. In the time period 99-04 Smartcraft was available on some engines and not on others. Our 02 496 was one such that was SC capable, but SR chose not to implement it. In fact, I converted our 280 to a full suite of Smartcraft gauges and system view display. At one time Merc published a listing by serial number for each of their engines that were Smartcraft capable. My suggestion would be to look up your engine serial number, as a Smartcraft gateway is the simplest way to get nmea2000 on your boat.

Whether to go with a wireless gateway, or wired is simple in my mind if a new MFD is in the picture. Many MFDs now come with wireless capability. Go the wired route.

H
 
If you want to do wired, but not ready for the full upgrade, mercury makes a smartcraft gauge called the mercmonitor that displays the engine data and has an nmea output.
 
Thanks everybody. I’ll contact Mercury and see if our boat is SmartCraft ready and go from there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,118
Messages
1,426,511
Members
61,034
Latest member
Lukerney
Back
Top