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Mercury Marine says its SmartCraft electronics system interface should meet the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) 2000 interface standard this month. The NMEA's standard establishes a uniform set of rules that allows for the sharing of digital data between a boat's electronics. Boaters who have NMEA 2000-compliant electronics can link what would otherwise be disparate systems and access a host of vital information at the touch of a button. Some of the shared information includes boat speed, engine temperature, degrees of engine trim, steering angles, water depth, engine hours, engine warnings, engine diagnostics, fuel needed to reach a waypoint, and more. Phil Gaynor, director of Smartcraft, says, "Cornerstone to the philosophy of SmartCraft is to combine together all the information a person needs to operate a boat into a simple data connection. That data can then be displayed and controlled through any number of devices manufactured both by Mercury and now, through this new NMEA 2000 interface, display information on devices made by other NMEA-compatible companies."  --Capt. Patrick Sciacca

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