Ordering a ‘19 GS22 and need input

[idahosan]

We have decided, after a year of research induced indecision, to order a ‘19 GS22. Dealer sent me an order sheet and wife and I are trying to make some decisions. We have a few questions and any input and advice is welcome. This will be our first Nautique and we are getting really excited.

1. We demoed a gs22 with the H5 and stock prop on it and it ran great at our altitude (5005’). I see that the ZR4 is essentially the same torque specs in a bigger block. Nautique says H5 saves significant fuel. Is this the case or just hype? I don’t mind the cost if the technology justifies it. We are planning on keeping this boat for 8+ years.

2. Is the tower prep option a must? I’ve read a couple places where the tower is a PIA to fish wires through. It sure looks like it is.

3. Are the phender pros worth $900? Our boat will be at our cabin dock for weeks at a time and I use the exile bumper balls and tie them off on the same cleats my docking lines. I would like a cleaner option but $900???

4. Is the swim platform cover a good option? It’s only $100 but haven’t ever had 1 before

5. Are there any options you skipped and then kicked yourself?

6. Does anyone have a pic of the gs tower folded down with the bimini on? This is one of the major selling points for us. We have a 7’ garage door and I’m trying to find out if the bimini and tower will fit under the door. I know it will with just the tower folded. If I have to lift the header to 8’ it’s not a deal breaker and may just do it anyway.

Interesting side note, with the new towers on the 210 & 230 they both fit under a 7’ door on a boatmate with 14” wheels. Dealer and I measured an ‘18 230 a couple weeks ago.

We are looking at doing an all white boat with the mocha seadek and a little Sahara sand and tungsten grey on the interior for some contrast.

[surroundsound64]

+1 on the all white!

1) I have the ZR4 and it doesn't seem bad on gas. At least not bad enough to justify the bigger money. Time will tell though, I only have 10 hours on mine.
2) If you want speakers, I would let them do the leg work while it's being built.
3) We have the phender pro but haven't used them yet. We do tie up a good bit and it seems like always a hassle trying to get the bumpers right... I would say personal choice on the money.
4) I always like covers to keep my stuff clean.

No help on the rest...

[idahosan]

+1 on the all white!

1) I have the ZR4 and it doesn't seem bad on gas. At least not bad enough to justify the bigger money. Time will tell though, I only have 10 hours on mine.
2) If you want speakers, I would let them do the leg work while it's being built.
3) We have the phender pro but haven't used them yet. We do tie up a good bit and it seems like always a hassle trying to get the bumpers right... I would say personal choice on the money.
4) I always like covers to keep my stuff clean.

No help on the rest...

Beautiful boat! Wife and I are waffling on a black vs White tower.

[Scoma]

We have a '17 GS22. Bought it off the lot and it had most of the options on it. Mystic White with Tungsten trim. So similar to you. Thoughts on your questions:

We store ours in a garage with the 7 foot door, but only for the winter. We take the bimini off to do that (and take some air out of the tires). The bimini folds down over the front of the windshield when it is released (you just unscrew the knobs on the tower and pull the whole thing forward). The highest point of the folded tower is the bracket(s) on the tower for the bimini. I'm guessing you will need a little more height on the door, but you will be close.

We love the phender pros. much easier, so I'd go for them. We have the ZR4, and don't think it uses gas excessively. If I were to upgrade, I would get the H6, but I'm very happy with the ZR4.
Definitely get the tower prepped. If you are going to surf, you will want tower speakers. We are in our late 50's and that is still an option everyone likes.

Other options I would not necessarily have gotten but have ended up loving are the awareness cam (makes finding riders really simple) and the heated seats/heater. Never thought I would use them and we use them all the time.

[GMLIII]

We have decided, after a year of research induced indecision, to order a ‘19 GS22. Dealer sent me an order sheet and wife and I are trying to make some decisions. We have a few questions and any input and advice is welcome. This will be our first Nautique and we are getting really excited.

1. We demoed a gs22 with the H5 and stock prop on it and it ran great at our altitude (5005’). I see that the ZR4 is essentially the same torque specs in a bigger block. Nautique says H5 saves significant fuel. Is this the case or just hype? I don’t mind the cost if the technology justifies it. We are planning on keeping this boat for 8+ years.

2. Is the tower prep option a must? I’ve read a couple places where the tower is a PIA to fish wires through. It sure looks like it is.

3. Are the phender pros worth $900? Our boat will be at our cabin dock for weeks at a time and I use the exile bumper balls and tie them off on the same cleats my docking lines. I would like a cleaner option but $900???

4. Is the swim platform cover a good option? It’s only $100 but haven’t ever had 1 before

5. Are there any options you skipped and then kicked yourself?

6. Does anyone have a pic of the gs tower folded down with the bimini on? This is one of the major selling points for us. We have a 7’ garage door and I’m trying to find out if the bimini and tower will fit under the door. I know it will with just the tower folded. If I have to lift the header to 8’ it’s not a deal breaker and may just do it anyway.

Interesting side note, with the new towers on the 210 & 230 they both fit under a 7’ door on a boatmate with 14” wheels. Dealer and I measured an ‘18 230 a couple weeks ago.

We are looking at doing an all white boat with the mocha seadek and a little Sahara sand and tungsten grey on the interior for some contrast.

Yes tower a PIA to fish wires through. Get tower prep option

I have Phender Pro and there are one of my favorte options. I use them all the time. Much easier than fender clips or tying up on your cleats

The swim platform cover is terrible and very hard to get on. I would reccomend as an option to get a stern shirk instead if you dont need to trailer your boat . Much better UV protection and not a PIA to pull on. Can be purchased by BoatCoversDirect.com

The most important option you left off are the strapless board racks. Well worth the extra dollars. Much easier the standard bungee straps racks

[kylant]

I have a GS20 and most likely will be ordering a '19 22.
I have the ZR4 motor. I am at 6300 ft elevation. IMO the zr4 is not enough motor for my boat at altitude.
I would get at a minimum the H5, I will be ordering the H6 for the 22.

Get the tower prep

I wish I had Phender Pros. I would order them. That way you can use the cleats for tying up instead up using them for both bumpers and tying up.
Platform cover is useless. I would get speaker covers instead.

From what I understand the tower and bimini fold down nicely. I haven't done it myself though.

Spend the extra on the strapless board racks. They are sweet.


From my experience. Get what you want and do it right the first time!!

[idahosan]

kylant Thank you. That may have just made my motor choice. We are regularly at 5000’ and the H5 did good at our demo but I didn’t get to ski it or see what rpms we were runnning at 30+mph. I do know with full stock ballast and 6 peeps in the boat, the rpms were about 3300 @ 10.8mph. I had to prop my LSV way down and can barely hit 34mph and that’s with the 6.2 450. I don’t want to have the same issue and now am considering the H6.

Strapless board racks do look sweet. May have to sugar coat it to the wife though.

Heated seats are on our list. It was 46* this morning and those seats will be a nice upgrade.

Phender pros are definite nite must have now

wife told me last night just get the big stereo and be done with it. She knows I will do it myself and she also knows I have zero time to do it.

Sounds Ike I am pushing the garage header to 8’. We are in and out of the garage every time, unless we are at the cabin. Getting home at 11pm and having to dick with removing the bimini and letting air out isn’t my idea of a good time. Scoma have you tried lowering the tongue jack all the way? We did this with our A22 and it would drop the windshield another 3” to 4”.

[kylant]

kylant Thank you. That may have just made my motor choice. We are regularly at 5000’ and the H5 did good at our demo but I didn’t get to ski it or see what rpms we were runnning at 30+mph. I do know with full stock ballast and 6 peeps in the boat, the rpms were about 3300 @ 10.8mph. I had to prop my LSV way down and can barely hit 34mph and that’s with the 6.2 450. I don’t want to have the same issue and now am considering the H6.

Strapless board racks do look sweet. May have to sugar coat it to the wife though.

Heated seats are on our list. It was 46* this morning and those seats will be a nice upgrade.

Phender pros are definite nite must have now

wife told me last night just get the big stereo and be done with it. She knows I will do it myself and she also knows I have zero time to do it.

I am on my 3rd prop. Extensive conversations with ACME. I think I have my boat propped as good as it will get. The ZR4 takes a while to pull me out on a ski. It takes a while to get up to wakeboard speed with just stock ballast.
The torque curve on the ZR4 is mellow then really ramps up. The best way I can describe it is similar to turbo lag on a diesel truck. slow until the turbo spools up, then takes off.

The H5 and H6 have much better torque curves and are direct injected. They perform much better. I would do the H6 if you are at 5000ft.

Do the stereo from the beginning. I just had mine upgraded to the MX. added bow speakers, sub, amp, and '18 JL head unit. I thought about a second set of tower speakers, but the middle speakers reduce head clearance dramatically.

[GMLIII]

kylant Thank you. That may have just made my motor choice. We are regularly at 5000’ and the H5 did good at our demo but I didn’t get to ski it or see what rpms we were runnning at 30+mph. I do know with full stock ballast and 6 peeps in the boat, the rpms were about 3300 @ 10.8mph. I had to prop my LSV way down and can barely hit 34mph and that’s with the 6.2 450. I don’t want to have the same issue and now am considering the H6.

Strapless board racks do look sweet. May have to sugar coat it to the wife though.

Heated seats are on our list. It was 46* this morning and those seats will be a nice upgrade.

Phender pros are definite nite must have now

wife told me last night just get the big stereo and be done with it. She knows I will do it myself and she also knows I have zero time to do it.

Sounds Ike I am pushing the garage header to 8’. We are in and out of the garage every time, unless we are at the cabin. Getting home at 11pm and having to dick with removing the bimini and letting air out isn’t my idea of a good time. Scoma have you tried lowering the tongue jack all the way? We did this with our A22 and it would drop the windshield another 3” to 4”.

If you dont get strapless board racks you will be sorry later

[Kinloch]

This is my gs20with tower folded. It takes me less time to fold the tower and put the boat into the garage than it does to put the cover on.

[jslipher]

I agree with kylant. Get the options and what you want now, at least those that would be difficult to self install in the future. Also, I highly reccomend raising your garage header. Our first boat barely fit in the garage door, but only have several additional steps taken. Our 2nd boat would not fit under the garage door at all based on how our drive was angled so I was forced to raise the header. I decided to raise it high enough to where there is plenty of room. Now I just fold the tower down and leave everything else as-is. It is so nice to not have to go through all of that extra finagling.

[idahosan]

I talked to one of my contractors and raising the header to 8’ isn’t a big deal. So that’s going to happen. All these extras are starting to add up I spotted a gs20 pulling into the marina last night and stopped to talk to them. The phender pros are awesome and that will be a must. Still debating the H5 vs H6, I would love to save 6k but I also don’t want to be let down after spending 120k+. Is there anyone with the newer vinyl? The gs20, last night, had all white interior and I’m not to sold on that. Our LSV is mainly white vinyl and a beotch to keep clean. Looking at either tungsten grey or Mojave brown interior with ghosted white exterior. I’m afraid of how hot the vinyl will get and a little hesitant to order darker vinyl.

[idahosan]

Now Looking at doing all Frost grey interior with mystic white main stripe and Mojave Brown seat boxing, piping and texture. Anyone have any pics of this combo or these colors together? Also opinions of Frost grey vs mystic white. Also debating tungsten grey main stripe instead of white. The white in our Bu is a beotch to keep clean and an off white seems like it might be easier?

[Kmayotte]

If I can make one suggestion. Instead of using fenders to protect your boat at the dock, invest in a pair of whips. The cost will be the same as the phender pro system and nothing will ever touch you boat when it's at the dock. Fenders are great for short term docking but the constant rubbing over a long period of time will certainly show on the boat.

[idahosan]

If I can make one suggestion. Instead of using fenders to protect your boat at the dock, invest in a pair of whips. The cost will be the same as the phender pro system and nothing will ever touch you boat when it's at the dock. Fenders are great for short term docking but the constant rubbing over a long period of time will certainly show on the boat.

That’s an excellent suggestion and at our cabin we will have whips but it’s 2 hours from our home. if we get a slip at the local marina, we won’t be able to install whips and fenders will be our only option. I’ve found that the exile balls leave the least amount of rubbing damage.