- Joined
- Oct 1, 2007
- Messages
- 7,331
- Location
- Texas
- Vessel Name
- Floatsome & Jetsome
- Vessel Make
- Meridian 411
I just wanted to forward along a little story of what a guy on our dock is going through. He has a relatively new Viking sportfish with Cummins QSM11s and the Mercury Marine Zeus Pod Drives. He has owned the boat for almost a year. The autopilot has never worked properly. It is something he has fought with Mercury and Cummins and Viking and the broker that sold it to him. They have not solved the problem. In fact is has gotten worse. The left engine will not even start now.
Left engine??? What has that got to do with the autopilot??? An excellent question and the reason for this post. The problem with pods and the new age control system is that every associated with the control of the boat is integrated and overlapping. If you or I had a problem with our A/P, worst case scenario, we rip it out and replace it. Can't do that here. They have had technicians from Mercury, Zeus, Viking, Cummins, the broker on it for months now and still no solution. The only solution is a buyback.
Anyway, not trying to bash any particular vendor up above. But it seems the Mercury control system(I forgot the proprietary name for it) is at fault but they don't know how to fix it. And also shows the complexity of these systems and if they do break, even the people that are supposed to know what's going on can't fix it. These are factory technicians that were flown in...not the average joe authorized local technician.
Left engine??? What has that got to do with the autopilot??? An excellent question and the reason for this post. The problem with pods and the new age control system is that every associated with the control of the boat is integrated and overlapping. If you or I had a problem with our A/P, worst case scenario, we rip it out and replace it. Can't do that here. They have had technicians from Mercury, Zeus, Viking, Cummins, the broker on it for months now and still no solution. The only solution is a buyback.
Anyway, not trying to bash any particular vendor up above. But it seems the Mercury control system(I forgot the proprietary name for it) is at fault but they don't know how to fix it. And also shows the complexity of these systems and if they do break, even the people that are supposed to know what's going on can't fix it. These are factory technicians that were flown in...not the average joe authorized local technician.