Mercury Smart Tow

krieg · Criminal Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 62

Does anyone have any info or experience with Murcury's Smart Tow?

http://www.mercurymarine.com/otherproducts/smartcraft/smartcraftinaction/smarttow.php

I am asking because there is not a Perfect Pass available for my boat and Smart Tow seems to be similiar and would work on my boat. Thanks.

SilverMustang35 · Posted: Sep 05, 2008 5:54 am Post subject:

I looked at Smart Tow for my boat but it wouldn't work since mine is not the mercury DTS digital engine. From what it looks like though it is petty awesome. It seems to tap into the engine diagnostics, fuel flow, adjust trim accordingly and has quite a bit of presets. I am going to get Perfect Pass Stargazer since the mercury option isn't available. Would the stargazer not work on yours too?

Firefly07 · Newbie Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 4

From what I've read the mercury smartow is an rpm based speed control only. What engine do you have that you can't use perfect pass. Have you contacted them to confirm your engine is not compatible?

Also, what type of boat/engine are you running? The only engines not compatible with perfect pass are the 3.0 and mercruiser 8.1 I thought. Are you using one of those?

SilverMustang35 · Posted: Sep 05, 2008 6:06 am Post subject:

Mercury also has a Smart Tow pro that uses the Speedo and allows for exact dialing in like PP or Zero Off... Perfect pass stargazer will work for my 4.3 carbed engine and they say they have alot of success with carbed engines. May want to call PP, just be on a line that has free or cheap calling to canada...Called from my verizon and got a shock when I got the bill...15 bucks for about 20-25 minutes with PP...other than that, awesome people to work with. Getting PP this winter...then just throw the hammer down and drive Smile

Brit Rider · Posted: Sep 05, 2008 6:36 am Post subject:

Firefly07, We've fitted PP to 3.0 litre engine many times without any problem.

Firefly07 · Newbie Joined: 22 May 2008 Posts: 4

krieg · Criminal Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 62

Brit Rider, I have a 3.0L Mercruiser. I e-mailed PP because I could not see it listed on their site and they e-mailed me back saying bluntly that they did not make anything for the 3.0L Mercruiser. Can you tell me about your expierence with this combo. Anything special needed for the install. problems, functionality...etc?

Brit Rider · Posted: Sep 05, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject:

krieg, Works perfectly, you just buy the standard kit for a Merc engine and plug it in. Only thing that may not work perfectly would be the rev's as it may think its a 6cyl/8cyl so if running off revs you'd have to set it to the number PP THINKS its running at.

Speed control would work as normal, just plugged into the standard throttle linkage.

Remember there's heaps of adjustments in PP so if it doesn't work just right you can always mess with the settings to make it settle down.

krieg · Criminal Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 62

Brit Rider, Thanks for the reply. What specific model did you install on a 3.0? PP Pro, Cruise, Stargazer? Also could you tell me a little more about the adjustability of the PP. To be honest I havn't ever seen one in person.

Brit Rider · Posted: Sep 06, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject:

It was on a sea ray 175 - and it was a traditional PP Wakeboard Pro (Throttle linkage control, not via the ECU as many are now). I'm sure they still sell ones that integrate to the throttle linkage so this shouldn't be a problem.

I also know of people fitting this to other boats with the same results - the 3.0litre merc is the same whatever boat its in Very Happy

Perfect Pass comes loaded up with the most common settings on it, but you can then make small adjustments yourself... so say it wasn't settling at speed properly you can adjust it - just makes the whole system that bit more flexible. To be honest though, I've installed PP in 3 different boats and never had to adjust the factory settings - they seem to know what works at PP.. who am I to argue Laughing

Hope that helps - I'll be on holiday for the next 7 days; when I return I wanna see some installation pics!!!! Very Happy

jryan15 · Newbie Joined: 20 Jul 2008 Posts: 23

I recently installed perfect pass on my sea ray 220 with mechanical throttle. I spent a lot of time as well search out info on smart tow. I'm glad that I came across a few perfect pass wakeboard pro units. If your interested, (shameless plug coming...) I'm selling one of the wakeboard pro units (thread below). You'll love it and so will whoever is driving the boat!

http://forums.wakeboarder.com/viewtopic.php?t=77944&highlight=

krieg · Criminal Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 62

Brit Rider, Thanks for the great info. Just got to get the bones and I will start the install Smile

jryan15, I saw your unit and it is very tempting and looks like just the unit I need. Is there anything else I would need to purchase or would that be everything I need to get it going? Gonna start saving.......