Merc Smartcraft Gauges

[prov1900]

Specifically the digital gauges for 'troll control'. My former boat had a 135 Opti with the digital gauges. I thought it was a usefull device for tuning down RPM's for trolling. My new boat has a 225 Opti but w/o the digital gauges. My dealer at the time (2005) told me that there was a lot of issues with the gauges and talked me out of them. Curiously, I see they are still around and have personally never heard of anyone having problems with them.

Anyone with experience with these, do you think it is a worthwhile investment to switch them out? I do like all the other features with the gauges but was looking for a way to avoid buying a kicker motor, i.e. digitally tuning down the speed for slower trolling with big motor.

[delcecchi]

Specifically the digital gauges for 'troll control'. My former boat had a 135 Opti with the digital gauges. I thought it was a usefull device for tuning down RPM's for trolling. My new boat has a 225 Opti but w/o the digital gauges. My dealer at the time (2005) told me that there was a lot of issues with the gauges and talked me out of them. Curiously, I see they are still around and have personally never heard of anyone having problems with them.

Anyone with experience with these, do you think it is a worthwhile investment to switch them out? I do like all the other features with the gauges but was looking for a way to avoid buying a kicker motor, i.e. digitally tuning down the speed for slower trolling with big motor.

The motor the dealer had in stock didn't have the gauges. So he badmouthed them to get you to take that one off his hands.

That's my theory.

[Transporter]

I have twin 225's on my fishing boat with the smartcraft gauges,2001 models, they have worked flawlessly since new. I use the troll control every time I fish as I downrigger fish with this boat. I don't know the cost is to add them. I found it odd that hardly any optimax's, (or Yamaha's with their version for that matter), on boats in the midwest freshwater areas never had the smartcraft package, I buy saltwater stlye fishing boats and you couldn't find a boat without them. Rather stupid really, one of the best options available.

[Loon]

I had the Smartcraft Tachometer on the boat I sold this fall and I loved that feature so much that I went out and bought new gauges to put in my new boat when I bring it home this spring.

A simple install would include a blue CAN BUS trunk line with terminator resistors on each end that would connect the engine straight to the Tach.

That's what I had on my last boat and it gave me troll control based on RPMs...+/- 10 RPMs with each press of the button. I could not knock the RPMs lower than the factory-set low idle, though, because it was the 40/50/60hp class. My new boat has the 75/90/115hp class and that will give me the ability to knock the RPMs down to 500 (I believe).

If you wanted to get a little more complicated you could get a blue CAN BUS trunk cable with a single terminator resistor on the engine side and 4-gang junction block and put the terminator resistor cap that you took off the engine on said junction block and branch off from there to add the speedometer.

Then wire the speedometer to your NMEA network to get GPS information and now your troll control can be adjusted based on speed to account for wind/current/etc. Basically cruise control for your outboard.

It also would change your high speed speedometer readings from paddle wheel to the more accurate GPS...not to mention give you MPG/Range/Distance to Waypoint economy information not shown on the Tachometer.

The diagnostics, real-time gallons per hour, gallons used and engine hours alone make this system a no-brainer for any 2002-present Mercury owner out there.

I wouldn't pay retail, though. This stuff is all over the auction site.

You guys are right about this being more popular down on the coast where the you need to have your finger on the pulse of your outboards because the runs are so long that it can be a safety issue.

I would expect to pay $200 each for the Tach and Speedo...$50 for the trunk line...$50 for the junction block.

$500 total. After using Smartcraft I will never let $500 get between me and it on any boat I own going forward.

I would do it.

[yaggie]

If you were going with a single smartcraft guage for trolling would you go with the RPM or the Speedometer?

[Loon]

If you are only going to get one or the other get the tachometer.

Tachometer: engine break-in, engine temperature, engine oil pressure, trim angle with engine RPM, trim angle with water pressure, water pressure, battery voltage and hour meter, fuel flow (GPH) and fuel used, engine RPM (digital), depth

Speedometer: boat speed, fuel used, COG/SOG, distance/fuel to waypoint, clock with water/air temperature, tank level readings, twin engine RPM synchronizer, twin engine trim synchronizer, estimated travel range, fuel economy, trip odometer

Both have engine diagnostics that not only tell you what is wrong when the engine alarm goes off but it also tells you the corrective action to take.

Most of the speedometer features require special harnesses for trim and tank senders and you would need to wire it to your NMEA for most of the other features.

Tachometer first...no question. Easy install with one cable to run. It will automatically detect which engine you have and will only display the features that apply to your engine.

[yaggie]

Thanks

[marine_man]

Before you dive into it.. make sure your motor will support it. I don't recall what year the motor side of it became "standard" but when they first came out the motor had to be equipped correctly to support the smart gauge system.

marine_man

[prov1900]

If it says "equipped with Smartcraft", does that mean that it is? Or is it more complicated than that?

[BartmanMN]

My boat has a 2003 135 Optimax and it came with the Smartcraft gauges. I love them. It was really nice knowing the exact hours on the boat when I purchased it without needing to bring it to a place with the handheld device. It also has helped me with alarms and watching the true RPMs on my motor.

[marine_man]

If it says "equipped with Smartcraft", does that mean that it is? Or is it more complicated than that?

I would think that is all that you would need.

marine_man

[TSchultz]

I've got them on an 02 200 opti and wouldn't get another boat without them. Now on the other hand if you want to use it to get down to walleye trolling speed you're probably out of luck with a 225. The lowest I can get down with mine is about 2.4, 2.3 mph.

[prov1900]

Right now, I can get 2.6 to 2.9 (with variables, i.e under perfect conditions), biggest variable with my front trolling motor down (not running). I don't think I personally would require less than 2.2 because spinners would be pulled with the Minn Kota anyway. I haven't tried the drift bag trick tied from the front cleats.

From you guys that are trollers (I am far from it), is there a belief that there is too much "wear and tear" from using the big motor for trolling? Watching a lot of fishing shows because of a useless ice season, I see lots and lots of people using their primary motor for pulling plugs, and some of those are 300 HP. Their kickers are tilted completely out of the water, which I thought was interesting. I always used to kick myself for not getting a kicker motor, but now thinking that I didn't mess up that bad. (My next boat will have one for sure, not just for trolling, but for other reasons.)

A buddy of mine brought up a good point (and he is a troller 90% of the time). He said the big motor would afford you better and tighter turns in current/wind.

And I didn't intend to spin this into a trolling thread...

[FM_Mike]

A buddy of mine brought up a good point (and he is a troller 90% of the time). He said the big motor would afford you better and tighter turns in current/wind.

I can tell you from experience that what your buddy said is true.

Last year was my first year with a kicker (9.9 Mercury Pro Kicker) it made a big difference as far as trolling speed and is very easy and gas as most all my fishing is trolling.

The down fall if you want to call it that is that making a tight turn is more difficult. When very windy I will crank up the main motor to get the turn made and then back to trolling.

I added the kicker to this boat when ordered for many reasons:

1. Most all my Fishing is Trolling.

2. Keep down the hours on the main motor.

3. The cost of gas using the kicker compared to the main motor.

4. With the cost of gas going up the difference will pay for the kicker in the years to come.

5. I may be misguided on this one, but I have heard the larger motors tend to "Carbon Up" if used as a trolling motor for large amounts of time.

6. If there are problems with the main motor it's nice to know I have a back-up.

7. The kicker is quiet, but these days with the new four strokes it can be a wash.

Other than the tight turns, I have not found any other down falls. Won't have a boat without one again.

Mike

[delcecchi]

you guys probably already know this but if you tilt the big motor, the kicker turns a lot better.

[FM_Mike]

Your are correct, but steering at times can be a PITA when the kicker is tied to the main motor with no hydraulic steering. Probably easier with a kicker that steers independent of the main motor. With a tiller handle I bet that would make a big difference.

Mike

[delcecchi]

My kicker is totally independent. If it isn't windy and I am lazy I can run the kicker and steer by using the big motor as a rudder. If I need more control, tilt the big motor and use the tiller handle on the kicker.

[Transporter]

Don't know about a kicker as I use twin 225's, run one at a time trolling for hours at a time. Never had any carbon issues, plugs last much longer than maintenance schedule, pulled and inspected, but put them back in,over 250 hours on the plugs and still good. Fuel usage comparison for me is a wash, a 9.9 would need to be 1/2 throttle or better to move the boat. Trolls down to 1.6 on one engine, but pushing a fair amount of boat, steering not an issue, engage autopilot.

[delcecchi]

A boat that needs twin 225's is a whole nother story.

[Loon]

If anyone wants more info on these gauges I can send you a link to a 115-page file completely dedicated to Smartcraft.

I can also put you in touch with a couple guys who actually know what they are talking about (most dealers have no clue up here).

Just PM me.

[yaggie]

Loon,

PM sent.