Experience with VesselView Mobile?

[WCBasser]

I have a (new to me) 2004 Optimax 200 on a Stratos 295 Pro XL. The boat fuel gage is very inaccurate - shows 7/8 when full and 1/4 when 12 (of 41) gallons have been used. It seems many others have fuel gage problems. Rather than going down the rat hole of trying to get an accurate fuel gage, I'm thinking of just installing VesselView Mobile and using my iPhone to keep track of my current fuel remaining (= initial fuel load - fuel used).

Is this a more cost-effective approach? Anyone have experiences, good or bad, with the fuel used total on VesselView Mobile? I'll be using an iPhone app.

Thanks!
-Robert

[Lightning 6]

Purchased vvm for other reasons (reports faults to my preferred dealer, tracks maintenance, accurate rpm, water pressure & voltage) ….but My vvm is much more accurate than the oem analog gauge. As far as ‘cost effective’…..I have no idea.

[TDobb]

Like Lightning said, the VVM system lets you see so many parameters of the engine, it is a great value for watching the vitals. It will likely be more accurate than the analog gauge on the dash, but it takes some time to figure out the programming inputs so it can accurately track fuel consumption. My analog gauge is fairly accurate on the boat on maybe one of out 100 trips I make would I ever need to worry about fuel levels, so I don't really bother with that feature in VVM.

[Proline25]

The vessel view is nice when dealing with a 140 gallon fuel tank and monitoring fuel burn, but with only 40 gallons, it would seem easy to fill the tank and know how much fuel is remaining with a decent dash gauge. If you do not use the app one day, the remaining fuel may not be accurate until you refill the tank and restart the app at "full" tank. Also if you forget to add the amount of fuel from the last refuel to the app, then the remaining fuel would not be inaccurate. I forgot to "add" fuel after stopping by the gas station and to get the fuel level accurate, I pumped the tank dry (70 gallons), also done for periodic visual inspection, and found that I had 25 gallons more fuel than the program was showing.
Fix the dash gauge with a new style sending unit that does not have the float on a swingarm. I paid about $40 for a new sending unit that was the correct length for my fuel tank depth. Get the new style float assembly for the depth of your tank. Add Vessel View for the most accurate fuel burn and remaining fuel.

[Palomar22]

VVM is a great tool for monitoring your engine, diagnosing issues ( it gives faults in plain english ), and tracking routine maintenance of your outboard. I do use the fuel gauge on mine and it is accurate up to .1 of a gallon that ive noticed so far. Setting the fuel up is as easy as entering in the size of your tank, and resetting the " full " setting each time you fill up. Not much different than on a Smart Craft gauge to be honest. Analog gauges can be a PITA and its nice to have all of the info right in front of you. I got a high strength magnetic phone holder and mounted it right between my 2 units at the dash, and ran a charger cord to it to keep my phone charged all day. Installation was literally plug and play. Love it so far!

[SilverFox579]

Smartcraft reports fuel consumed based on injector pulses, no analog gauge will be more accurate than that. Any Smartcraft device capable of displaying fuel used, and there are several, is a wise choice IMHO.

[WCBasser]

Thanks for the great feedback. VesselView Mobile looked good on paper - just wanted to be sure it really works as advertised. Sounds like it does.

Yes, my tank is only 41 gallons, but on many fishing trips I will only burn 10-12 gallons. If I had an accurate reading on fuel left in my tank I could likely gas up only every 3 or 4 trips, instead of every 2nd trip like I do now (just to be safe).

My fuel gage problem is that the tank in my bass boat ('04 Stratos 295) is irregular and "L"-shaped, so most of the fuel is in the bottom third. To get an accurate fuel level, it would take some kind of programmable sending unit to properly convert the gas level in the tank into the right amount of fuel remaining. My boat service center is 2 hours away and I don't want this fuel level issue to become a $2,000 trial-and-error project. As far as I know I have a simple, standard fuel gage in the panel. If anyone knows a sending unit that would likely work in my situation please pass it along.

[EuropeanAM]

There is an option to "Program" (using the add fuel and calibrate method) a Smartcraft Instrument to more accurately display fuel level. The catch is that there are several prerequisites and you really don't know if it worked right until you finish the process (at which point the tank is full and you would have to start all over again with an empty tank).

[WCBasser]

Thanks Don. Will this work with a standard analog sending unit or do I need a special sending unit to use this SmartCraft feature?

If this works with a standard sending unit, it might be a reason to go with a panel-mount MercMonitor gage rather than just Vesselview Mobile - correct?

Apologies for the dumb questions; I'm really new to this stuff. /RGW

[EuropeanAM]

You can utilize a traditional fuel sending unit, connected to the Fuel/Oil Harness.

[WCBasser]

Will definitely explore this path - thanks!