Surfed andTest drove a new 210 and G21 yesterday (My Thoughts)

[new210]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I hope I am entering this in the correct area. I am looking to replace my long loved Mastercraft X9 for a new V-drive surf and Wakeboard Machine. I had thought that after five years of research I had narrowed it down yesterday when I must admit I went home a little stumped. Well, the two boats I had narrowed my choices to were the Nautique 210 and the G21. Don't think I didn't give Mastercraft a hard look either, they make an awesome boat, as well 8 years of absolute rock solid performance with my X9 (MCX 350). I don't really want a 23 foot boat or I may have considered the 230 or the G23.

Yesterday was the big day I thought I was going to write a check for a G21 that I fell in love with looks wise.
I told the dealer that I wanted to surf and drive both the 210 and the G21 before I wrote a check. This was to be sure I had done all my homework and verified I had made the correct choice.

When we got in the water yesterday we first tried the 210, it was a rough ride over to the cove on the other side of the lake. This was a great test for the 210 to see how it handled the rough water. In a nut shell (Rock solid) I was impressed.This boat was noticeably quieter than my X9 when driving ,I think mostly due to the V-drive allowing the engine to be stern mounted. The boat had a 343 in it a performed quite well.When we got to the cove we drove and filled the ballast, went through the touch screen features checked the storage (somewhat limited) and I jumped in the water to surf. I was pulled up and with the factory stock full ballast and instantly smiled, I thought to myself this is awesome, I didn't even have to plug in a pump and fill a fat sack. My thoughts on the wave with stock ballast were, the wave could have been longer. But overall a pretty complete package. I did crave a little more room in the boat.

Next up G21 The boat I so wanted to buy (and still do I think?) Same thing, across the rough water to the cove for flat water. The G21 was impressive. Huge storage, rock solid feel in the rough water, this boat had huge amounts of power I should mention this boat was ordered in with the 550. The seating space for My wife and 2 children was great. the boat cornered well, despite its size and tracked very nicely. This boat may be performing this well due to the abundance of horsepower, hard for me to say as I have only drove this G21. Well after being told how amazing this boat was going to be surf wise from my dealer, I was ready to jump in. Again, ballast filling was as convenient as the 210, took about 9 minutes to load the boat to the rim. I jumped in ready for the best surf wave I had seen to date. I got up, threw in the rope and instantly fell back on the wave to a point where I thought I would be able to pump back in to the sweet spot. I wanted to see how far I could surf back on this wave, this is one of our foremost desires in our new surf machine. I was shocked I had nothing, no push?????????
I waited for a second go to either confirm that I had forgot how to surf in the last 45 minutes, or the wave was indeed powerless. Up I got this time determined to feel the touted amazing G wake that everybody speaks of?? where is it??? Again, No power!!! what was wrong? Is it that the salesperson did not have it set up correctly? This is where I turn to you folks. I loved the interior, exterior, handling and the torque, the only thing left is the actual purpose I am buying a new boat for.The WAVE!!! I am feeling totally bummed out. I wanted this boat bad. Is there anything that I need to know about the G21 that maybe you owners can reveal? That will make this the ultimate surf machine I was led to believe it was?? Please help.
Thanks in advance for reading my long winded post. Cheers

[wakerider107]

That's strange. There is plenty of push with the stock surf settings. Maybe the ncrs was on the wrong setting and flattened out the wake too much.
Best setting from what I hear is rear tanks full, belly at empty- half, nss at 0, ncrs at 4-5.

[new210]

Thanks for your comments Wakerider, I will take the settings into consideration ( maybe on Tuesday we ask to demo again and try new settings). Does anyone who own a G21 have any input? Does this boat need more than the factory ballast to create a good surf Wake? or is the consensus that the boat is not set up correctly?

[Brichter14]

Are you trying to surf without the boat listed to one side or the other? From my understanding it is a decent wave with the boat weighted evenly but to get something impressive you need to lean the boat one way or the other.

[new210]

I understand the salesperson tried removing the ballast on the port side to half and a bit out of the belly, still no real push noticed. We also messed with the speed a bit, slower speed provided a little more push. We did not list the boat to much, I am hoping that we don't need to list it much at all! Still stumped as to why the 210 outperformed the G21 with stock ballast. Does anyone have a G21 that they love surfing or is it really built for Wakeboarding? What happens when you add two 400lb sacs plumbed into the g21 in the rear. Just a question or a rant? Why is it that Nautique or for that matter any Manufacturer can not pre-set the touch screen with a best surfwake possible button out of the box? I mean really, adding more weight should make the shape better,right?

[NautiqueJeff]

No need to lean the boats with NSS. I would suggest making sure the dealer knew how to set the NCRS and NSS settings properly. If those aren't set correctly, you won't have a good experience.

[new210]

Thanks Nautique Jeff, I was told they new what they were doing? Jeff, have you experienced a great wave behind a stock G21?

[NautiqueJeff]

Indeed! Here are some shots of Tommy Czeschin behind his G21.

[sja]

Excuse me if this is obvious to all, but make sure you are not testing in relatively shallow water. As a wakeboarder and only occasional surfer I am surprised with the loss of wave power when going into the shallows

[NautiqueJeff]

Very good point!

[new210]

Well, I guess if I could get some more opinion about the settings people use I will go and give it a try again.Is it everyones opinion that the G21 will out surf the 210? I just assumed that was the case. Nautique Jeff, Thanks for the photos! Was that a stock g21? Please provide his setup if possible, that looks very good.

[scottb7]

new210, thanks for all your work on this...i too was thinking about g21...so this is quite intriguing. But for me it will call another question - that is a non issue for you. That is is the new 210 much better then my 2008 210?

[archcityblues]

if you plan to surf more than wakeboard the 210 is your boat man. ive surfed them all and the 210 is my boat of choice. i have an ocean surf background, so im not sure if that changes things or not. pm me with any questions about surfing either of them.

[surroundsound64]

if you plan to surf more than wakeboard the 210 is your boat man. ive surfed them all and the 210 is my boat of choice. i have an ocean surf background, so im not sure if that changes things or not. pm me with any questions about surfing either of them.

This is interesting... Maybe I misunderstood the G series, but I had gotten the impression that they were made to be surf boats. But now I've read that the 230 out surfs the g23 and this thread is indicating the 210 out surfs the g21.

[josemolino]

Thanks Nautique Jeff, I was told they new what they were doing? Jeff, have you experienced a great wave behind a stock G21?

The settings I use in my G21 are NCRS 3-4 NSS 0. If you set higher than that you just get a wall.