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As someone who has been anxiously scouring the Nautique forums to learn more about the new GS20, thought I would post on my initial impressions of our new boat we received last week. Important to give you some background on what we're coming from to frame our comparisons and interests. Our previous boat was a 1999 direct drive Sanger (Sangair aka DX-11) that we loved for 17 years. Our close friends have a '13 G23, '99 196 and an '11 210 so these are the boats we have experience behind. Family of 5, the parental units grew up skiing, got into wakeboarding and now love to surf. 3 boys ages 14, 11, 8 who pretty much only surf but will wakeboard and ski to appease the parents and of course love to tube with friends. The old Sanger had a decent ski wake and was one of the first boats with plumbed ballast and a tower to wakeboard behind. We added weight in recent years and a suck-gate to make the surf wave presentable but typically would surf behind our friends G23 and if we wanted to ski would do so behind the 196. However based on what you see below we knew we wanted a hybrid boat that could do everything at least in a fashion much better than the old Sanger. Here is what I like/dislike about the boat....
Likes:
a) Fun to drive quotient. Is the Surf wave as good as the G23, no. However the boat is about 100% more fun to drive. With NCRS the hole shot I think rivals our friends 196 (we have the ZR4). Driving the G23 is like driving a barge, a German made (quality) barge but when I'm not surfing behind it I miss a responsive boat.
b) Waves/Wakes are really, really good. See below on our surf setups but for a boat with 1,000lbs of ballast less than the G's it's really a fun surfwave. Add passengers and it's not far off the G's since the push is really good. The slalom wake is much better than our direct drive Sanger and just a little bit worse than the 196, I couldn't be happier with the level of performance for surf/ski. Haven't wakeboarded much yet.
c) Nautique Fit & Finish. You all know this is unparalleled but really is fantastic
d) Awareness Cam: This is really a cool option for anyone teaching newbies how to surf/wakeboard/ski. Rather than trust others in the boat if the rider has his/her balance and is truly ready to 'hit it' you can watch the camera yourself and pull the rider up at just the right time. Really is a great teaching aid. Once you get used to the Panaray system it really is amazing.
e) Auto Sound Level: Really nice to have the stereo lower at slow speeds and raise for higher RPMs.
Dislikes:
a) While I love the Auto sound levels, I hate there is no Tower Speaker Zone control. I chose every stereo option which I think totaled over 5K and I still don't have zone control for the tower speakers. Doesn't seem right.
b) Rear Locker latches: On the G23 there is a handle you push to open the rear lockers. On the GS's you simply push a post into a rubber grommet. Multiple times in rough water the hatches would pop up. This is disappointing.
c) Windshield height. As Evening Shade and others have commented the windshield height is to low when you're driving at cruising speeds. I helped this by moving the seat back pretty far (I'm 6'3") but this should be improved. With the bow up when surfing it's ok but again I did find myself annoyed by this.
d) Battery compartment/front storage areas aren't hinged. Unlike the big brothers the GS's don't have this and kind of compromised the quality feel.
e) The Trailer manufacturer painted my trailer Masters Blue vs Midnight Blue - This will get fixed...
Some Pics
Dialing in the Surf Wave
We haven't added weight yet to the boat because we've been pretty happy with what we've seen so far. We did have about 800lbs of friends in the boat at times this past Memorial Day so that helped but here's what we discovered.
NCRS 5, NSS 0 is where you should start. If you have beginners move NCRS down to 3 or so. Flattens the wave.
Be Sure to get some Lean. We ran the opposite rear tank at 70% to get appropriate lean.
The Belly should be at 60-70% unless you have added weight. When we had our friends we'd put the Belly up to 100% but with just us 5 the wave is better at 60-70%
Speed ranges from 10.6 to 11.2 dependent on the size of the rider.
We need to work on the Starboard cleanliness (prop rotation). The Port side is absolutely butter.
Here's a vid from this past weekend. Fast forward to 1:10 in to see the wakes. Port surfers were at 3/0/10.6 (NCRS/NSS/Speed) and Starboard at 5/0/11.2. These shots were with our friends so 100%/70%/100% ballast (Surf side/Opposite Side/Belly)
Love this boat. I'll post more as we add more weight.
Likes:
a) Fun to drive quotient. Is the Surf wave as good as the G23, no. However the boat is about 100% more fun to drive. With NCRS the hole shot I think rivals our friends 196 (we have the ZR4). Driving the G23 is like driving a barge, a German made (quality) barge but when I'm not surfing behind it I miss a responsive boat.
b) Waves/Wakes are really, really good. See below on our surf setups but for a boat with 1,000lbs of ballast less than the G's it's really a fun surfwave. Add passengers and it's not far off the G's since the push is really good. The slalom wake is much better than our direct drive Sanger and just a little bit worse than the 196, I couldn't be happier with the level of performance for surf/ski. Haven't wakeboarded much yet.
c) Nautique Fit & Finish. You all know this is unparalleled but really is fantastic
d) Awareness Cam: This is really a cool option for anyone teaching newbies how to surf/wakeboard/ski. Rather than trust others in the boat if the rider has his/her balance and is truly ready to 'hit it' you can watch the camera yourself and pull the rider up at just the right time. Really is a great teaching aid. Once you get used to the Panaray system it really is amazing.
e) Auto Sound Level: Really nice to have the stereo lower at slow speeds and raise for higher RPMs.
Dislikes:
a) While I love the Auto sound levels, I hate there is no Tower Speaker Zone control. I chose every stereo option which I think totaled over 5K and I still don't have zone control for the tower speakers. Doesn't seem right.
b) Rear Locker latches: On the G23 there is a handle you push to open the rear lockers. On the GS's you simply push a post into a rubber grommet. Multiple times in rough water the hatches would pop up. This is disappointing.
c) Windshield height. As Evening Shade and others have commented the windshield height is to low when you're driving at cruising speeds. I helped this by moving the seat back pretty far (I'm 6'3") but this should be improved. With the bow up when surfing it's ok but again I did find myself annoyed by this.
d) Battery compartment/front storage areas aren't hinged. Unlike the big brothers the GS's don't have this and kind of compromised the quality feel.
e) The Trailer manufacturer painted my trailer Masters Blue vs Midnight Blue - This will get fixed...
Some Pics
Dialing in the Surf Wave
We haven't added weight yet to the boat because we've been pretty happy with what we've seen so far. We did have about 800lbs of friends in the boat at times this past Memorial Day so that helped but here's what we discovered.
NCRS 5, NSS 0 is where you should start. If you have beginners move NCRS down to 3 or so. Flattens the wave.
Be Sure to get some Lean. We ran the opposite rear tank at 70% to get appropriate lean.
The Belly should be at 60-70% unless you have added weight. When we had our friends we'd put the Belly up to 100% but with just us 5 the wave is better at 60-70%
Speed ranges from 10.6 to 11.2 dependent on the size of the rider.
We need to work on the Starboard cleanliness (prop rotation). The Port side is absolutely butter.
Here's a vid from this past weekend. Fast forward to 1:10 in to see the wakes. Port surfers were at 3/0/10.6 (NCRS/NSS/Speed) and Starboard at 5/0/11.2. These shots were with our friends so 100%/70%/100% ballast (Surf side/Opposite Side/Belly)
Love this boat. I'll post more as we add more weight.
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