Older Vesselview opinions for non-new boat....

flyboycj84

Active Member
Feb 20, 2014
189
Boat Info
2008 Meridian 391
Engines
QSB 5.9
Hi all, first off, I've been a long time lurker when I owned my SR185BR, but now am a first time poster, but have switched to a......ummmmm....Chaparral. Don't hate....don't hate......theres always been such a wealth of info on this site, and I hope you dont mind me asking advice.

Bottom line.....I can get an older VV for my Mercs and am wondering if there are any huge complaints with these? I have old basic analog gauges that arent very accurate, and would really like some good fuel info and the like.

I dont really need or want to spend the $$ on a new VV4 or 7. Any thoughts yea or nay on the older VV would be much appreciatied.

Thanks!!!!
 
Hi all, first off, I've been a long time lurker when I owned my SR185BR, but now am a first time poster, but have switched to a......ummmmm....Chaparral. Don't hate....don't hate......theres always been such a wealth of info on this site, and I hope you dont mind me asking advice.

Bottom line.....I can get an older VV for my Mercs and am wondering if there are any huge complaints with these? I have old basic analog gauges that arent very accurate, and would really like some good fuel info and the like.

I dont really need or want to spend the $$ on a new VV4 or 7. Any thoughts yea or nay on the older VV would be much appreciatied.

Thanks!!!!

First we need to know what year and model the boat is but more importantly what model and year model are the engines?
 
Yep...sorry. My bad. 04 Chaparral 270 Signature with twin Merc 4.3MPIs. I've talked a lot with Merc on the phone and they've confirmed the unit will work with my motors. The only thing that I won't get much of is the descriptive fault text that a lot of the newer motors provide. The laundry list of things that my motors DO provide is enough for my purposes. Mainly being a good RPM readout, and some fuel flow/fuel used info.

I think the VV will be nice because my boat was a lake boat in GA before I got it.....and there is zero navigation on it besides a compass. So I am in a unique position to start from scratch. I've been using Navionics on my ipad for navigation along with a new Standard Horizon GX1700 VHF, which has a NMEA0183 equipped GPS right in the face of the unit. With this setup, I dont plan on setting up a new NMEA2K setup, since my motors provide much of what I want to the VV.

Thanks again!
 
Have you considered the newer Mercmonitor?

That would definitely be a good option however he would need to check with Merc providing his serial numbers to check for compatibility. The first generation ECM555 are not fully compatible with Vessel View, only System View. When I checked mine with Merc he said I was good but I had the newer gen ECM555 introduced sometime in 2004-2005. Not sure how that would affect the use of a MercMonitor. I was told all Big Blocks that use the PCM555 are Vessel View/MM compatible.
 
Last edited:
Mercmonitor would be nice, but since Merc says my motors don't put out as much info as newer motors....theres really no point in spending so much on a twin engine Mercmonitor. I can pic up an older VV for half the cost.
 
Well.....got a sweet deal on eBay for a slightly used VV with harness. It's in the mail as we speak. So, hopefully it plays nice with my Mercs. I'm sure I will need more harnesses to get everything I want functional.....but should be a good project.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,946
Messages
1,422,781
Members
60,930
Latest member
Ebrown69
Back
Top