Can You Feel Me?

Why touch screens are where it’s at

June 2016 Feature

If you want to court technological fails, try upgrading to a touch screen phone and then hold on to it for one too many years. Boy you feel slick using it, but trust me, it’ll all go the way of the Hindenburg when that self-same sensitive screen starts going psycho on you.

Examples? How about unexpectedly initiating group calls? Or how as I’m talking, I can literally hear the beeps as it’s texting a string of symbols to some poor soul in my contacts list? Or the ever-constant, “Please enter your password,” droning from my pocket as voicemail once again gets summoned like an irritable, tinny-voiced genie?

It’s straight out of I Robot, where the technology stops doing what I tell it to—and so insidiously, too! Granted, my phone is several years old and overdue for a trade-in, so maybe it’s more the natural course of digital Alzheimer’s and I should be more understanding.

Or I should drop-kick it out my window and get a boat’s helm touch screen instead, since the developments these days seem to be one step behind giving you a shoulder massage while it takes over driving for you, all while feeding you grapes and fanning you with a gentle breeze. Seem extreme? You might not think so after reading up on these four boat manufacturers’ touch screens that are being embellished with greater innovations as we speak.

For example, Premier teamed up with the Murphy group to create the Beacon System, which comes standard on all mid- to upper-end models.

“Our consumers love the technology,” says Connie Weinman, Premier’s sales and marketing coordinator. “This trend has been around for some time in the auto industry; we knew it was just a matter of time before it would reach the marine industry.”

This system includes a complete view of all your boat’s systems, including speed, RPMs, fuel level and engine diagnostics. Let’s also not forget to mention the full GPS, stereo control, and scaled-down version of Premier’s owner’s manual. You can even get a dual screen option on its S-Series RF. Tell me that’s not impressive!

The folks at Starcraft also utilize Murphy’s innovative design ideas that have yielded some awesome advantages for upgrading to touch screens.

“Besides being aesthetically pleasing and giving our pontoons an updated look, the main reason is the functionality that it provides in one location,” explains Steve Huber, the marketing coordinator at Smoker Craft Inc.

From the helm you can control the entire interior and exterior accent lights, the freshwater pump, bilge pump, refrigerator, and power Bimini top (when applicable). You also have easy access to your stereo remote with Bluetooth and three video inputs.

The Harris team chimes in with some impressive multi-use options from Raymarine and Murphy that are available on many of its models. You can customize your boat based on how you plan to use it with the features packed into the Raymarine A series and Murphy Touch Screen Control. Among other things, the former offers an intuitive navigation interface, while the latter lets you display video from the tower-mounted camera and, when paired with a Mercury Verado outboard, also offers GPS-based cruise control and launch control to direct how fast your boat hits cruising speed.

As more sophisticated technology becomes integrated into Harris boats, an easy-to-use interface like a multi-function touch screen is very useful, according to Harris officials. They can be customized to display exactly the information you are interested in based on where you will be boating, and they can quickly navigate between control functions like onboard lighting and engine performance.

Like surfers sensing the big wave, the engineers at Manitou likewise jumped onboard by developing user-friendly touch screens with Murphy and are currently making plans for continued evolution. John Miller, Manitou’s product engineer, explained that this niche of the market is “awfully fluid right now” for manufacturers and vendors across the board, and that makes the looming changes all the more exciting.

Currently, Manitou’s touch screens cover many of the aforementioned basics that make boaters’ lives easier, and more unique features like GPS mapping are in the oven as we speak.

Triton Industries Vice President of Operations Dave Curtis adds that the current products Manitou installs on its boats are a “springboard” into greater screen technology to come, so stay tuned! All of the manufacturers out there are quickly going places with this amazing and innovative technology.

Harris Boats

260-432-4555

www.harrisboats.com

Manitou

800-999-9788

www.manitouboats.com

Murphy by Enovation Controls

918-317-4100

www.fwmurphy.com

Premier Marine

800-815-6392

www.pontoons.com