Testing out a GS20!

[NautiqueJeff]

OK, it is almost 11:00 PM here, and I just got off the water after a full day out on the GS20.

Other than a couple of small negatives, this boat is completely amazing. I will give a full write-up with video tomorrow evening (hopefully), but overall I am impressed beyond my craziest expectations. This boat is incredible.

If you get a chance to take one out, DO IT! And if you get the chance to try multiple sports behind it, DO IT!

My family and I wakeboarded, surfed, kneeboarded, and slalomed, and then I met up with a friend who is a former junior pro skier, and he absolutely ripped behind it on his ski. Amazing stuff!

Look for more details tomorrow. I have to drop this boat off in Tennessee tomorrow, but hopefully I will get back to NC in time to edit some video and do a write-up.

I can't believe how much I like this boat! I didn't expect it to live up to the hype quite as well as it did.

Oh, and it is totally barefoot-worthy, too. The claim of 43 MPH above is real, and this is the base engine (ZR4)!

[tphillips98]

How do you like the GS20 compared to your 2016 210? Are you bald you made the switch and would you do it again? How does the interior room compare?

I've only had it since Thursday night and haven't done anything other than wakesurf behind it. I can give you a more complete answer once I've tried slaloming, barefooting and wakeboarding. I really liked my 210, I just wanted something with a little more HP and torque for barefooting and the GS delivers that. Most notable takeaway so far is that it accelerates and handles a lot more like my old 216 DD than the 210. It drives like a sports car versus a luxury sedan. When you press the throttle to the stops you get momentary bow rise and then it seems like the lake sucks the bow back down.

I think the 210's surf wave is taller with a more gradual ramp. The GS surf wave looks shorter but its a lot steeper. The GS wave is also a lot longer than the 210's which translates into the surfer having more wave to surf on. My son says the GS wave has a lot more push than the 210 and he was able to ride as far as 20 to 25 feet back with ease.

From the drivers seat the interior feels bigger than my 210 due to the wider beam even though I believe it's slightly shorter from windshield to rear seat. The bow is much bigger with 3 people feeling comfortable versus confined in the 210. The available storage is far greater in the GS given the below deck ballast. So far I love it... just wish I could be in it versus working. Oh and I was bald before I made the switch so no difference there:-)

I'm sure Jeff will give a more detailed and useful review than I since it sounds like he did more in his one day than I have since Thursday.

[NautiqueOasis]

Jeff,
Where in Tenn is the GS20 going?

[Evening Shade]

I've only had it since Thursday night and haven't done anything other than wakesurf behind it. I can give you a more complete answer once I've tried slaloming, barefooting and wakeboarding. I really liked my 210, I just wanted something with a little more HP and torque for barefooting and the GS delivers that. Most notable takeaway so far is that it accelerates and handles a lot more like my old 216 DD than the 210. It drives like a sports car versus a luxury sedan. When you press the throttle to the stops you get momentary bow rise and then it seems like the lake sucks the bow back down.

I think the 210's surf wave is taller with a more gradual ramp. The GS surf wave looks shorter but its a lot steeper. The GS wave is also a lot longer than the 210's which translates into the surfer having more wave to surf on. My son says the GS wave has a lot more push than the 210 and he was able to ride as far as 20 to 25 feet back with ease.

From the drivers seat the interior feels bigger than my 210 due to the wider beam even though I believe it's slightly shorter from windshield to rear seat. The bow is much bigger with 3 people feeling comfortable versus confined in the 210. The available storage is far greater in the GS given the below deck ballast. So far I love it... just wish I could be in it versus working. Oh and I was bald before I made the switch so no difference there:-)

I'm sure Jeff will give a more detailed and useful review than I since it sounds like he did more in his one day than I have since Thursday.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the boat when you've had some more time in/behind it. Haha sorry about the bald thing. I meant to say are you glad you made the switch, but I'm sure you figured that out.

[Evening Shade]

Jeff,

I can't wait to hear your full review. I don't really ski anymore because I always seem to hurt my shoulder when I do, but the wakeboard and surf wake and manageable size (and price point) of this boat really has me excited!

[Bunch Boats]

Jeff,
Where in Tenn is the GS20 going?

Bunch Marine. Actually we are waiting on Jeff to arrive so that I can get out of here and hit the water. Only reason for coming in today was to pick up the boat.

[T-Rex]

I got to go out on a demo on that boat on Saturday. Unfortunately didn't get to ski or board, but we were on it for about 30 minutes and took it through the paces. Ski, wakeboard and surf wakes were all incredible. Awesome is all I can say about it. It's a 20' boat so a little less room than you might want, but performance wise it is great. If they could make that boat in a 21.5' version you wouldn't need anything else.

[TBoomer]

I had the opportunity to get out on the GS20 this past weekend. I both Skied & Surfed behind it and I was very impressed overall. We currently run a 2008 VTX which is a great crossover... However the GS20 takes the multi sport wakes to the next level plus technology that is 9 years ahead of what we currently have, so making the switch is a no-brainer!

I was curious if you had a chance to play with surf settings other than the factory pre set. When I surfed there was only 4 people in the boat, the guy hit the preset and away we went @ 11.2MPH - I was amazed at how solid and long this wave was, felt like I was riding on concrete compared to the VTX! My only concern was the wave did not have the height I am use to. I was wondering if slowing down a couple points would help this? Ballast, NSS & NCRS adjustments?

Now onto the Ski wake. I was a little discouraged before gearing up because we had 4 full grown adults on board (While I was Skiing) as well as a full tank of fuel. So my expectations were not set very high at that time. I Skied at what I believed to be 15off because I can't quite figure out the math with how the line lengths work in that boat, and went 31MPH to simulate the wake for your average recreational skier. It was very shocking that this thing weights 4500LBS... let alone a crew of 5! Don't kid yourself, there is defiantly a good sized bump back there, but it is uniform, soft, and non intimidating! I had no trouble cutting through and I think that anyone who skies recreationally would have been very pleased. The next guy in our group skied it at 34MPH @ 22 off and he absolutely crushed it! His comment was that the wake was very similar to his 2014 VTX. I have skied the Sport 200 20 + times and although this boat does not ski quite as good, its not very far off.(Perhaps if we lost a couple people and some fuel it would have been better)
However the Sport 200 will never surf or throw a wake even close to what the GS20 can.
We were hoping to shorten it to 28 or 32 off but ran out of time. What speeds did you ski and what lengths did you have the most success with?

[swc5150]

Looking forward to your write up Jeff. I've heard lots of praise tossed around on the GS slalom wake, although a baller acquaintance from another forum said it was brutal until -35 (@36mph). Since you own a TSC, I'm hoping to get your take on it, since you have great frame of reference. I obviously don't expect it to be TSC or OSC good, but when I read it's just as good or better than a 210 at slalom, I roll my eyes. I would assume a G series owner would do the same should I say my 200 has an even better surf wake than my 196. If you could compare the slalom wake to the 200V, that would be useful to a guy like me. I imagine that was a fun day playing around with CC's latest toy!

[tmb]

Looking forward to your write up Jeff. I've heard lots of praise tossed around on the GS slalom wake, although a baller acquaintance from another forum said it was brutal until -35 (@36mph). Since you own a TSC, I'm hoping to get your take on it, since you have great frame of reference. I obviously don't expect it to be TSC or OSC good, but when I read it's just as good or better than a 210 at slalom, I roll my eyes. I would assume a G series owner would do the same should I say my 200 has an even better surf wake than my 196. If you could compare the slalom wake to the 200V, that would be useful to a guy like me. I imagine that was a fun day playing around with CC's latest toy!

I'm not following you when you say you "roll your eyes" when someone says the slalom wake is as good as a 210. This is a 4500lb V drive. If they can make it have the same slalom wake as a 210 and better surf wave, they have hit a home run (from my understanding this is exactly what they were shooting for) I slalom every week behind my 2012 210 at 34mph and 15' and it's actually pretty nice for a V drive. I've slalomed once behind the 200V and twice behind the GS20, the 200V is hands down a much better slalom wake but doesn't hold a candle in surf wave, roominess, ability to handle rough water. In my opinion, a baller would never be happy with this boat. This is designed for the guy that likes to surf/wakeboard a little bit more than slalom and isn't interested in running the course.

[swc5150]

I'm not following you when you say you "roll your eyes" when someone says the slalom wake is as good as a 210. This is a 4500lb V drive. If they can make it have the same slalom wake as a 210 and better surf wave, they have hit a home run (from my understanding this is exactly what they were shooting for) I slalom every week behind my 2012 210 at 34mph and 15' and it's actually pretty nice for a V drive. I've slalomed once behind the 200V and twice behind the GS20, the 200V is hands down a much better slalom wake but doesn't hold a candle in surf wave, roominess, ability to handle rough water. In my opinion, a baller would never be happy with this boat. This is designed for the guy that likes to surf/wakeboard a little bit more than slalom and isn't interested in running the course.

"A baller would never be happy with this boat" is what I was looking for. I was just trying to say the press hype for this boat made it sound as though it had a tournament quality wake, like the 200V, in addition to great surf and board wakes. Then people compared the slalom wake to a 210, which cause injuries for course skiers, so it was confusing to me what the reality of the wakes are. Your assessment, for me, is the best yet.

[tmb]

"A baller would never be happy with this boat" is what I was looking for. I was just trying to say the press hype for this boat made it sound as though it had a tournament quality wake, like the 200V, in addition to great surf and board wakes. Then people compared the slalom wake to a 210, which cause injuries for course skiers, so it was confusing to me what the reality of the wakes are. Your assessment, for me, is the best yet.

Gotcha. I hear you about the tournament quality wake thing, it would be incredible but I have to believe it's impossible to engineer.

[lucky7t]

Room is my question . Can somebody actually measure inside instead of saying it feels as big or bigger than a 210? The question is .... Is it actually as big or bigger inside than a 210?

[Quinner]

Looks bigger to me.

[bakerdr27]

Hi, I thought I would jump in and let you know that I just traded in my 2014 Sport 200 for the GS 20. For reference I'm a light skier (145 lbs) that grew up on big wake skiing and only do recreation skiing (32 at 15 off is it for me). I skied/surfed behind the GS20 before making my decision. The big difference for me was they removed the rooster tail that you had to ski through at my speed/line length. I found the wake to be similar size, but without the rooster it was much nicer to ski through. In terms of the surfing, on the sport 200 we added 400 lbs to both back compartments and added the Ronix Wedge. We would then fill all the stock ballast, but only the 400 pounder on the surf side. At 10.6 to 10.8 MPH it made a tremendous wake that even our biggest friends could surf. It was a clean wake, but perhaps a little steep. I highly recommend this configuration for anyone that wants their 200 to become a good (great?) surfing boat. I don't think the GS20 wake was as big as this configuration of the 200, but it was clean and long. Unfortunately, we should have had someone large with us to really test the surfing - as my wife and I can surf behind anything. We made the jump because the hull improvements, built in NSS, interior improvements, huge stock ballast (hopefully we won't need to add more bags to this one) and I felt the skiing (for me) was an improvement. Finally, sorry, I'm a smuck and didn't take any video or pictures!