Tweet
Jeff's Super Air Nautique GS20 Review
Earlier this week, Nautique was kind enough to let me have full use of a GS20 for a couple of days. I got my family and some friends together, and we spent an entire day out on the water, testing out this boat and putting it through its paces.
The weather was windy, and the lake was choppy and rough, but we made the best of it.
After dropping it in the water, the first thing I did was check the top speed. I have had a number of people ask me to check this to determine if this boat will be suitable for barefooting or not. I was able to get 43.1 MPH out of it, and this is with the base ZR4 engine.
Next, I loaded up my family, and we headed out for some kneeboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and skiing.
We pulled my 9-year-old wakeboarding at 13 MPH in beginner wakeboard mode. The wake was consistent, but a bit washy. I should have set the NCRS at 0, but I had it at 2. If I had set it at zero, I bet the wake would have been cleaner. You can see what it looked like in the video below. I was able to get a clean wake with NCRS at 2 at about 14.5 MPH.
I did some kneeboarding at 18 MPH. The wake was super clean and consistent. This was the second time I have been on a kneeboard in like ten years, but it was a blast! My 9-year-old also kneeboarded at this speed, and loved it.
I slalomed a little bit just to check out the wake. I have a brand new ski that was used fresh out of the box, and the settings are not correct for me. The bindings are too far forward on the ski, and we only had the boat speed at 25. I included this in the video just so you can see the wake in slalom mode at 25, but we quickly switched to a skier who not only is way better than I am, but also has equipment that is properly set up.
Next I pulled my friend Leif at 36 MPH and 28-off and 32-off. Even though the conditions were less than ideal, he killed it! He skied three passes, and rocked each of them. His assessment was that there was a slight bump at 28-off, but that it was great for a v-drive. 32-off was even better.
Next, I surfed a little bit. The surf wave was smaller than a G23 surf wave, as expected, but it was great for a 20' boat, and it had great push. I would like to see what this wave looked like with a little additional weight. I surfed goofy, and then Leif surfed regular. As you can see in the video below, the surf wave is legit!
The biggest negative that I found with this boat is the storage. It is a 20' boat, so that makes storage difficult. It will hold slalom skis in the rear compartments. They slide up under the seats. The issue is that larger skis (like my 69" O'Brien Syncro) will not fit. There is also no wakeboard storage except in the racks. Same thing with the kneeboard. The boat has all of the appropriate storage areas (under all seats and in the back hatches), the issue is that the compartments just aren't very big. Also, the two batteries take up the storage under the passenger side center seat. Keep in mind that I am used to a G23, which has so much storage that I can fit in the compartments myself, so I may have been expecting too much. This was pretty much the only negative that I could find.
This is an amazing boat that really does do everything well. I have never really been a fan of multi-sport boats, but this boat has changed my mind. I love it, and if I had room for one, I would probably own one. One of the more surprising things that I noticed was how smooth the ride was. Even in the rough water we were in
Ok, here's the video of some of our activities. We really enjoyed this boat! In fact, we liked it so much that we were out on the water until about 11:00 that night. After our watersports activities, we went to dinner by boat, and had a nice leisurely cruise back home. We really didn't want to give the boat back to Nautique!
For the full-size video, click here. Be sure to set it to 1080 if you use this link for the best quality.
The weather was windy, and the lake was choppy and rough, but we made the best of it.
After dropping it in the water, the first thing I did was check the top speed. I have had a number of people ask me to check this to determine if this boat will be suitable for barefooting or not. I was able to get 43.1 MPH out of it, and this is with the base ZR4 engine.
Next, I loaded up my family, and we headed out for some kneeboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and skiing.
We pulled my 9-year-old wakeboarding at 13 MPH in beginner wakeboard mode. The wake was consistent, but a bit washy. I should have set the NCRS at 0, but I had it at 2. If I had set it at zero, I bet the wake would have been cleaner. You can see what it looked like in the video below. I was able to get a clean wake with NCRS at 2 at about 14.5 MPH.
I did some kneeboarding at 18 MPH. The wake was super clean and consistent. This was the second time I have been on a kneeboard in like ten years, but it was a blast! My 9-year-old also kneeboarded at this speed, and loved it.
I slalomed a little bit just to check out the wake. I have a brand new ski that was used fresh out of the box, and the settings are not correct for me. The bindings are too far forward on the ski, and we only had the boat speed at 25. I included this in the video just so you can see the wake in slalom mode at 25, but we quickly switched to a skier who not only is way better than I am, but also has equipment that is properly set up.
Next I pulled my friend Leif at 36 MPH and 28-off and 32-off. Even though the conditions were less than ideal, he killed it! He skied three passes, and rocked each of them. His assessment was that there was a slight bump at 28-off, but that it was great for a v-drive. 32-off was even better.
Next, I surfed a little bit. The surf wave was smaller than a G23 surf wave, as expected, but it was great for a 20' boat, and it had great push. I would like to see what this wave looked like with a little additional weight. I surfed goofy, and then Leif surfed regular. As you can see in the video below, the surf wave is legit!
The biggest negative that I found with this boat is the storage. It is a 20' boat, so that makes storage difficult. It will hold slalom skis in the rear compartments. They slide up under the seats. The issue is that larger skis (like my 69" O'Brien Syncro) will not fit. There is also no wakeboard storage except in the racks. Same thing with the kneeboard. The boat has all of the appropriate storage areas (under all seats and in the back hatches), the issue is that the compartments just aren't very big. Also, the two batteries take up the storage under the passenger side center seat. Keep in mind that I am used to a G23, which has so much storage that I can fit in the compartments myself, so I may have been expecting too much. This was pretty much the only negative that I could find.
This is an amazing boat that really does do everything well. I have never really been a fan of multi-sport boats, but this boat has changed my mind. I love it, and if I had room for one, I would probably own one. One of the more surprising things that I noticed was how smooth the ride was. Even in the rough water we were in
Ok, here's the video of some of our activities. We really enjoyed this boat! In fact, we liked it so much that we were out on the water until about 11:00 that night. After our watersports activities, we went to dinner by boat, and had a nice leisurely cruise back home. We really didn't want to give the boat back to Nautique!
For the full-size video, click here. Be sure to set it to 1080 if you use this link for the best quality.
Comment