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I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the GS20 do event up at Silver Sprays private lake yesterday. A little background on how I ride: I mostly surf and slalom which I do behind my 2012 210. For slalom I run at 15 off and surfing I have 750's plumbed into the factory tanks and will throw another 400lb sac in on the port seat if we only have 2 people in the boat.
The fit and finish of the GS20 is what you would expect from a new Nautique. It is a beautiful boat inside and out. The storage is awesome compared to the 210 (especially the newer 210's") and you would never guess that it's a foot shorter, there is plenty of room. The tower is a little shorter (I think) that my 210 and is pushed more to the stern. With 4 tower speakers you have to contort your body a little to pull boards in and out of the racks unless you sit on your knees on the seat. With only 2 tower speakers you should be fine. There is sea deck wrapped all over this boat which makes getting in from the bow or stern very nice. The transom seats will be great if you are just floating on the water or are instructing someone in the water. Now on to the performance. I'll be honest and say that I was concerned/disappointed when I saw a picture of the surf wake online as it looked very short. I was told not worry about the looks because it has great push. When I got in the boat to surf I was disappointed to learn that the private lake max depth is 10'. Anyone that surfs knows you need at least 15' or your wake will wash out. To my surprise, I was able to surf at the very end of my surf rope in 6-10' of water. They are right when they say it has a lot of push. It wasn't tall/steep so it felt different than my 210 but I guarantee I can't surf at the end of my rope in 10' of water in my 210. I then transitioned to slalom at 15' off. I was very tentative to ski hard because its a 4500lb V drive but the slalom wake was comparable if not better than my 210. It's shaped a little different so it feels different crossing but I didn't have any complaints. The only thing I wasn't very excited about was the base of the tower. It is very small and doesn't look like it belongs on a Nautique. I'm guessing they had to do this to allow the tower to fold into the boat. I'm not ready to cut a check as I want to drive (we weren't allowed to drive the boat at the event) and test boat in deep water with "real" lake conditions but I'm pretty stoked.
On a side note. The people from Nautique were first class as always. Thomas Bates, Adam Wensink, Matt Rini, and Shaun Murray couldn't have been more friendly and informative. Here's an embarrassing story for you....we check in and are walking back to my truck to get our gear when I guy walks up in a big floppy hat, sunglasses, and introduces himself as Shaun. I introduce myself and ask if he works for Silver Spray (the local Nautique dealer) to which he responds "No, I'm a Nautique athlete". I then ask where he lives, we make a little more small talk, and as we turn to walk away I see him take off his hat and then I recognize it's offing Shaun Murray. I walk back to my car utterly embarrassed. I grab my gear and make my way back to him to apologize. Instead of having the attitude like he couldn't believe I didn't recognize him, he was beyond cool with it. We shot the **** for 15 minutes, took a picture with him, and then watched him shred on the GS20. Absolutely sick to watch him in person. When we were leaving he walked over to get our thoughts on the boat and say goodbye (he even laughed when I made another joke about him working for the local Nautique dealer). He is what every professional athlete should be like and I'm glad Nautique sponsors him.
8/14 Update
My dealer was able to get one in this past Friday for me to demo again in real lake conditions. It was just me, wife, and salesman and I thought the wake surf wake was better than my listed 210 (750 plumbed on top of hard tanks). It didn't seem as big visually but has more push. I'm sure this will only be improved with some additional ballast or people in the boat.
I'm not so sure on the ski wake. There is some serious pop that I'm not used to and I slalom my 210 all the time. It could just be me using poor form because it looks intimidating (at least I hope that's the case).
Below are some pics. I think the surf wave would have lengthened out with some more speed. We were at 10.8. The green deck is the GS20 and the Grey/Blue is my 2012 210.
Below are some pics for comparison.
The fit and finish of the GS20 is what you would expect from a new Nautique. It is a beautiful boat inside and out. The storage is awesome compared to the 210 (especially the newer 210's") and you would never guess that it's a foot shorter, there is plenty of room. The tower is a little shorter (I think) that my 210 and is pushed more to the stern. With 4 tower speakers you have to contort your body a little to pull boards in and out of the racks unless you sit on your knees on the seat. With only 2 tower speakers you should be fine. There is sea deck wrapped all over this boat which makes getting in from the bow or stern very nice. The transom seats will be great if you are just floating on the water or are instructing someone in the water. Now on to the performance. I'll be honest and say that I was concerned/disappointed when I saw a picture of the surf wake online as it looked very short. I was told not worry about the looks because it has great push. When I got in the boat to surf I was disappointed to learn that the private lake max depth is 10'. Anyone that surfs knows you need at least 15' or your wake will wash out. To my surprise, I was able to surf at the very end of my surf rope in 6-10' of water. They are right when they say it has a lot of push. It wasn't tall/steep so it felt different than my 210 but I guarantee I can't surf at the end of my rope in 10' of water in my 210. I then transitioned to slalom at 15' off. I was very tentative to ski hard because its a 4500lb V drive but the slalom wake was comparable if not better than my 210. It's shaped a little different so it feels different crossing but I didn't have any complaints. The only thing I wasn't very excited about was the base of the tower. It is very small and doesn't look like it belongs on a Nautique. I'm guessing they had to do this to allow the tower to fold into the boat. I'm not ready to cut a check as I want to drive (we weren't allowed to drive the boat at the event) and test boat in deep water with "real" lake conditions but I'm pretty stoked.
On a side note. The people from Nautique were first class as always. Thomas Bates, Adam Wensink, Matt Rini, and Shaun Murray couldn't have been more friendly and informative. Here's an embarrassing story for you....we check in and are walking back to my truck to get our gear when I guy walks up in a big floppy hat, sunglasses, and introduces himself as Shaun. I introduce myself and ask if he works for Silver Spray (the local Nautique dealer) to which he responds "No, I'm a Nautique athlete". I then ask where he lives, we make a little more small talk, and as we turn to walk away I see him take off his hat and then I recognize it's offing Shaun Murray. I walk back to my car utterly embarrassed. I grab my gear and make my way back to him to apologize. Instead of having the attitude like he couldn't believe I didn't recognize him, he was beyond cool with it. We shot the **** for 15 minutes, took a picture with him, and then watched him shred on the GS20. Absolutely sick to watch him in person. When we were leaving he walked over to get our thoughts on the boat and say goodbye (he even laughed when I made another joke about him working for the local Nautique dealer). He is what every professional athlete should be like and I'm glad Nautique sponsors him.
8/14 Update
My dealer was able to get one in this past Friday for me to demo again in real lake conditions. It was just me, wife, and salesman and I thought the wake surf wake was better than my listed 210 (750 plumbed on top of hard tanks). It didn't seem as big visually but has more push. I'm sure this will only be improved with some additional ballast or people in the boat.
I'm not so sure on the ski wake. There is some serious pop that I'm not used to and I slalom my 210 all the time. It could just be me using poor form because it looks intimidating (at least I hope that's the case).
Below are some pics. I think the surf wave would have lengthened out with some more speed. We were at 10.8. The green deck is the GS20 and the Grey/Blue is my 2012 210.
Below are some pics for comparison.
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