by Bob Walker - There are many things I love about boating. But in the winter, I can’t enjoy most of those things because it is just too cold. What I can still enjoy, and do, in the dead of winter is working on a great boating project. The last two winters I built Chesapeake Light Craft boats, which was great fun.

The Author's 22' Eastern Lobster Fisherman

This winter, however, left me looking for a project. I did not have to think very long to come up with my first small project for this winter. The fuel gauge on my 22’ Eastern Lobster Fisherman is inaccurate and leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling about how much gas I have left when I am boating. I was considering purchasing an in-line fuel meter when I came across Jim Hebert’s article “NMEA-2000 Instrumentation for Modern Outboard Engines”. The article made the process of building a network for my boat seem very simple and helped me realize that my Evinrude ETEC 115 HP engine was already monitoring fuel consumption. Since I already had a NMEA-2000 ready Garmin 740S GPS, Chartplotter and Sounder, I decided to take on this task. For great background and basics on this network and its use with Evinrude engines, read the article first. By taking the readouts from the network, I enable several features to make my boating experience more enjoyable: The elements of the project are few and simple:

  • Build the network from the engine to the Garmin and connect to a power source
  • Hide the cables
  • Test and configure the system

And the cost is very modest at less than $200.00

Getting Started

Here’s what is in the packages

To begin, I purchased a “Network Starter Kit” and an Evinrude Engine Interface Cable from Navico. You can also purchase this from your Evinrude dealer. By examining the connector on the interface cable, I knew what to look for in the engine! One of the great things about this project is that I only needed to go to the marine supply store once to complete it! Nearly everything you need is in these two boxes. Here are the other things you may need:

  • Terminations for the power drop (for my boat I needed a ring connector for the negative and a spade lug connector for the positive)
  • A 3 amp fuse, if you are going through a fused connection. The power drop has a fuse in line, so this is not necessary, but it was a convenient connection to power in my boat
  • An assortment of cable ties—you will need to cut some and replace them in the engine and along the route to the helm
  • A few simple tools: Flashlight, Crimper, Wire cutter, Pliers

Building the Network

Here’s my engine before the project

Getting the black plastic cowling off in freezing weather was not easy. The plastic had to be pried off of two standoffs. I’m not sure I did that right, but nothing snapped, so I guess that worked out well! And here’s a view from the top. One of the great features Evinrude built into this engine is a spare fuse right next to the main engine fuse! I’ve highlighted this and you can see where the spare fuse was not replaced the last time my yard worked on the boat!

The big black box on the top is the Engine Management Module or EMM. This is the brains of the engine. With the cowling off, I rooted around for quite awhile before I finally saw the connector I was looking for! I really think the toughest part of the project was getting the cable, with its thick terminus, through the rubber boot on the engine. Finally I came up with the idea of pushing a rod through from the other end to help guide the cable through. I probably spent an hour working on this step!

This is a close up of the waterproof connectors. Note the key which should make it difficult to make the connection incorrectly!

Success! With the cable fed out of the rubber boot, the work in the engine is complete. I used cable ties to carefully secure the cable and closed up the engine. I fished the wire up to the helm, making the connections with the “T”s as necessary. I scratched my head for awhile looking at the spaghetti behind the helm, but figured out the proper connections and used a ring connector for the negative and a spade lug for the positive in the locations indicated. Next I connected the Garmin 740S to the NMEA drop and fired up the engine!

Testing and Configuring the System

The Garmin software recognized the engine and the only configuration needed was to select the total fuel capacity of the boat. Here are actual photos of my display with the engine running at idle upon completion of the project:

         

This was an inexpensive, easy and very satisfying project. I’m looking forward to enjoying the new features of my boat next season.