Brunswick and Faria sign SmartCraft licensing agreement
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Faria Marine Instruments has signed an agreement with the MotoTron division of Brunswick Corp. to license Mercury Marine’s SmartCraft technology, said Dave Blackburn, president of Faria, in an interview this morning.
Previously, boat builders that selected Mercury power products and wanted to offer their customers SmartCraft features were limited to purchasing SmartCraft gauges from Mercury, Blackburn explained.
As of the upcoming model year, however, builders will have a wider variety of instrumentation options, including a range of styles and features, he stated.
“We can combine some features through our own software in addition to the [features offered by] SmartCraft in some of the instrumentation, and even customize functionality and styling for certain boat builders,” Blackburn said.
Before Faria is able to offer its new SmartCraft-enabled gauges to the boat builder community, it must submit the final products to MotoTron for certification, something he said should be complete in time for the upcoming model year change.
This new version of Faria’s MG2000 System will link to all 1999 or newer Mercury engines and controls, as well as internal and external sensors, the company reported in a recent statement.
Faria said it believes the system “represents a breakthrough in electronic marine engine monitoring instrumentation due to its open architecture that enables the boat builder to develop a standardized instrument panel for all engine types rather than changing the dash for each type of engine used.”
“We are extremely pleased that we’re able to develop this relationship with Mercury and the SmartCraft people,” said Blackburn today. “I think it will be a win-win for everyone in the marine industry.”
Faria Marine Instruments is a division of the Thomas F. Faria Corp., which is a supplier of engine monitoring and telematic systems, instrumentation and depth sounders to boat builders, engine companies, distributors and retailers.
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— Liz Walz