New Boat! Picked her up this morning!

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tin Man

Well-known member
TinBoats Supporter
Joined
Oct 1, 2011
Messages
445
Reaction score
219
LOCATION
SoCal
She's a .....

2023 Tracker Pro Guide V16SC with a Mercury 60hp 4 stroke.
Color: Starlite Blue
Options that I ordered: All Woven Floor and Decks and trailer brakes.

Now let the tricking-her-out begin!

Let's see......

Spare tire and carrier
9" Lowrance HDS Live
Maybe a different TM
Rod holders
Mercury Vessel View
????
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5377.jpg
    IMG_5377.jpg
    176.7 KB · Views: 5
  • IMG_5380.jpg
    IMG_5380.jpg
    75.4 KB · Views: 2
Get the Smartcraft combo gauge/tach instead of Vesselview.

Vesselview does not give any real codes that will cross to anything that we can access. Only the dealers have that info. It'll only give you a vague generic code that doesn't really give any useful information aside from "contact your dealer." Plus it's a mobile app and they're always buggy, require constant updates, etc. I hate that everything is going to them, they always seem to be the worst possible experience.

The Smartcraft gauge is close to the same price but will give you real trouble codes and does all of the same stuff, hour meter, oil pressure, temp, etc. I have the VV dongle and wish I would've just bought the gauge instead.

I'm not sure if Lowrance has the option but Garmins will also display some engine data with the right NMEA gateway.
 
Nice, open layout! If I lived somewhere warm I sure would like a boat with that kind of layout, but tomorrow mornings first mission of the year is going to be 43 degrees and raining so I'll take my full windshield and enclosure thank you!
 
Nice, open layout! If I lived somewhere warm I sure would like a boat with that kind of layout, but tomorrow mornings first mission of the year is going to be 43 degrees and raining so I'll take my full windshield and enclosure thank you!
My full enclosure is a frog tog suit with a see thru hood !!
 
Get the Smartcraft combo gauge/tach instead of Vesselview.

Vesselview does not give any real codes that will cross to anything that we can access. Only the dealers have that info. It'll only give you a vague generic code that doesn't really give any useful information aside from "contact your dealer." Plus it's a mobile app and they're always buggy, require constant updates, etc. I hate that everything is going to them, they always seem to be the worst possible experience.

The Smartcraft gauge is close to the same price but will give you real trouble codes and does all of the same stuff, hour meter, oil pressure, temp, etc. I have the VV dongle and wish I would've just bought the gauge instead.

I'm not sure if Lowrance has the option but Garmins will also display some engine data with the right NMEA gateway.

Surprised to hear that the codes do not match between Vesselview, smartcraft, and NMEA2K. :(

The VesselView Mobile installed easily, along with the app. I was communicating in no time. Sounds like I'll have to cozy up to the Merc mechanics, for any codes. I was hoping that info would have been in the oem service manual. All info is digital, no simulation of gauges, though.

I already have a suite of gauges, so probably wouldn't have replaced them with Smartcraft. If the NMEA fault codes have a good referance, might have gone that way.

Regardless, it was BassPro bucks that would need to be spent one way or the other.
 
Get the Smartcraft combo gauge/tach instead of Vesselview.

Vesselview does not give any real codes that will cross to anything that we can access. Only the dealers have that info. It'll only give you a vague generic code that doesn't really give any useful information aside from "contact your dealer." Plus it's a mobile app and they're always buggy, require constant updates, etc. I hate that everything is going to them, they always seem to be the worst possible experience.

The Smartcraft gauge is close to the same price but will give you real trouble codes and does all of the same stuff, hour meter, oil pressure, temp, etc. I have the VV dongle and wish I would've just bought the gauge instead.

I'm not sure if Lowrance has the option but Garmins will also display some engine data with the right NMEA gateway.
Do the Smartcraft gauges require the black box that is required for NMEA data to be communicated with FF? I thought of this route (direct to FF) but the $700 black box has me considering the VV. If the Smartcraft Gauge is $250 like the VV and does not require the black box, I may consider it.

I do not have any room for a gauge, and do not want to replace the OEM gauges....but I could fab a custom box and mount it where the included 4" FF is located on dash. Just a thought.

Thanks for the info.
 
Last edited:
The codes that are displayed on the Smartcraft gauges, are they available on the net? or is that a dealer "secret" too? Maybe they are in the oem service manual?
 
Codes in the service manual would be nice.

Let's see what Mr. G says about....Smartcraft gauges, black box, and where to find code info.
 
Do the Smartcraft gauges require the black box that is required for NMEA data to be communicated with FF? I thought of this route (direct to FF) but the $700 black box has me considering the VV. If the Smartcraft Gauge is $250 like the VV and does not require the black box, I may consider it.

I do not have any room for a gauge, and do not want to replace the OEM gauges....but I could fab a custom box and mount it where the included 4" FF is located on dash. Just a thought.

Thanks for the info.

To my knowledge you don't need a NMEA gateway or anything like that for the Smartcraft gauges. Should plug right into the 10 pin connector that comes out of your control box. Depending on how your current gauges are wired, at most you may need a splitter/junction box, but that should be it.
 
Did a little digging around. Didn't find much detail on the smartcraft gauge fault codes or NMEA2K provided ones. This article Mercury Fault Codes indicates that VesselView Mobile does not proide as much detail as the dealer scan tools. No surprise there.
 

Latest posts

Top