New Lund electronics / autopilot questions

[AlumaCamper]

Hi Everyone,

I'm planning on purchasing a new Lund Tyee 2075 Magnum to replace my 1994 Lund 1700 and I'm having some trouble deciding on what electronics to have factory rigged.

I'm going with a 250HP Verado and at some point down the road I will want to add autopilot. I can order the boat from Lund with a Mercury VesselView 703 display, but I can't find a solid answer online (or from the dealer) as to whether or not I can add an autopilot computer from Simrad or some other company and (ideally) control the autopilot functions from the Vessel View as opposed to having another instrument in the console (console space is limited on this boat).

The other option I'm considering is having it delivered without gauges or a display panel and adding a Simrad panel with a Mercury VesselView link. I'm assuming I could then add a Simrad autopilot computer and control everything through one display but I really just have no idea. Ideally I would like to just get the VesselView display so the boat is ready for the water when I take delivery and can add autopilot later, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

Also, I keep saying Simrad in this post, but Raymarine or anything else would be fine with me - as long as it works and integrated with everything else in the boat.

Any advice will be much appeciated! I'm in the Cleveland, Ohio area so if anyone has good suggestions for someone to install and configure this stuff I'd appreciate that as well.

 

[dingbat]

I know of no autopilot without a dedicated display of some sort.

I view Vessel view more as a “digital gauge set” than a multi-functional display. If you want MFD functionality, have them install a NMEA backbone as part of the VV installation. That way you can pick and install (plug and play) a MFD and auto pilot from the manufacturer of your choice.

 

[AlumaCamper]

I know of no autopilot without a dedicated display of some sort.

I view Vessel view more as a “digital gauge set” than a multi-functional display. If you want MFD functionality, have them install a NMEA backbone as part of the VV installation. That way you can pick and install (plug and play) a MFD and auto pilot from the manufacturer of your choice.

Thanks for the input. Now that you say that, it makes sense. Probably want the autopilot controls always on and easily accessible. Might not be a great idea to bury them in an MFD menu somewhere.

Any suggestions for a 7ish inch MFD? I do very little fishing and primarily use my boat for cruising and multi-day camping trips on big rivers. So primarily I want something simple, easy to read and responsive.

Thanks!