Gen 1 vs Gen 2 G23 Info Needed

[MileHiGuy]

We have enjoyed our '13 G23 for 400+ hours but now that we primarily surf we are looking to change up the wake. We are at 5600' elevation and primarily use the boat on a private lake that is 22' deep when full and can get down to 10'-12' on dry years but usually only goes down to about 18' most years.

On our boat we first added 450's PNP in the rear lockers but to simulate a full boat of people we have added #1000 of lead wake to mostly the mid and front and play with the PNP's to balance the distribution. There generally are only 4-6 people on the boat when we are at our lake. We surf between 11.2 and 11.5

Things I would like to improve on is a lip on the top of the wave, longer wave options, quicker time to get to speed and the wake clean up and easier to get a clean wake both regular and goofy for side to side transitions. Other pains for me is the bow spray with any type of head wind. Because of our altitude we have the 550 which sure can get thirsty especially when you try and bump the speed.

Looking for input on the hull change and how it relates to the first gen?

I think several of my concerns are addressed but not sure wave length options are there with NSS vs the tab systems out there. (Recently did a demo on a 2019 XStar)

Also, I have heard the Gen 2 hull does not really ramp up with more weight so not sure if my Lead Wake will be beneficial.

I know the 550 is still needed with the 2:1 for ballasted wake boarding up here but may not be a big deal for surfing? Or does 2:1 save considerable fuel even with the 550? Does anybody have diagnostics on the GPH with 2:1 (550 and/or 450)? I have seen the BoatCo Centurion biased video that has my generation at 13-15 PGH which seems fairly accurate to what I have experienced.


Thank you in advance for any insight.

[GMLIII]

MileHiGuy "Also, I have heard the Gen 2 hull does not really ramp up with more weight so not sure if my Lead Wake will be beneficial."

I have a Generation 2 Hull, (2017 G 23) and have 750 lbs of steel shot bags in it at all times. I only surf now and I will say with all ballasts 100% in addtion to the 750 lbs of lead , I have a great wake whether 1 person in the boat or 6.Prior to the steel shot bags addtion with one to two people, the wake was only OK

[Tallredrider]

The spray is real if you are often boating in a windy area. It is much improved on the 2016+.

The 2:1 is indeed better even with the 550.

[MileHiGuy]

Thanks for the replies... and keep the comparisons coming

Going to demo a few different models and see how it goes.

[cptotr]

I've been in both generation G23's and everyone will have their own opinion on it this, but I don't believe the newer G23's are worth the extra premium they're asking over the 1st generation. I was shopping for one recently and ended up going with the 2015 over the 2016. I never thought I would do that, but I looked all over the country and there was a minimum of $20,000-$25,000 spread between a 2015 to a 2016. Way too much money for too little of a difference for me. I couldn't tell that much difference in the surf wave and the spray is still there on the newer ones too. Maybe less spray, but it's not eliminated.

However, upgrading is always fun and by all means go ahead with it if you are just wanting something new. I just wouldn't expect it to be vastly different than what you have right now.


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[Tallredrider]

I've been in both generation G23's and everyone will have their own opinion on it this, but I don't believe the newer G23's are worth the extra premium they're asking over the 1st generation. I was shopping for one recently and ended up going with the 2015 over the 2016. I never thought I would do that, but I looked all over the country and there was a minimum of $20,000-$25,000 spread between a 2015 to a 2016. Way too much money for too little of a difference for me. I couldn't tell that much difference in the surf wave and the spray is still there on the newer ones too. Maybe less spray, but it's not eliminated.

However, upgrading is always fun and by all means go ahead with it if you are just wanting something new. I just wouldn't expect it to be vastly different than what you have right now.


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I will state that the only reason I went from 15-16 is that spray. Much of that depends on your usage and your location. I live in the desert. Unfortunately, that means wind every day in the afternoon, and lots of the time it is all day long. If I lived in a more protected area, and only went with my homies in the morning, I would still own the 15. But my family is too lazy to get up early and we do some tubing also, which invites splashing in the wave and inability to direct the boat in the right direction.

In the 2015, we could surf at just the right angle into or away from the wind and did OK, With tubing, you can't do that.

For certain locations and usage patterns, it is not a big deal at all. I wish I lived in one of those locations, haha.

[WakeDad]

18 g23 here. Don’t know about the earlier hull design but I get plenty of spray surfing into even the slightest wind. Dry otherwise but definitely needs a windshield wiper if you’re not surfing with wind at your back. I would argue that more weight doesn’t help. I’m running 500lbs lead and normally have 2-4 people on the boat and I think the wave is great. We had 10 last weekend and the wave was sick. Bumped up to about 11.8 and it was nice and long and probably close to a foot taller than normal. My take would be an extra 1000 lbs definitely changes the surf wave. As far as length is concerned, I think you can definitely get a tab/listed wave longer, but I’ve yet to see one that still has any push at the back of the wave. I spent a lot of time on a X23 before I bought the G and my assessment is you can get a 10% longer wave that has about half as much push at the curl. I can fall back in the curl on the G and pump back in every time....I would like to surf the new X24 though. 11k lbs out of the box can’t be all bad.

[MileHiGuy]

Update
I have done a demo on the following:
2019 XStar with the 7.4
2019 X24 with the 6.2
2019 Centurion Ri237 with the 6.0
2018 G23 with the 6.2 450

our boat is a 2013 with the XRS 550



1st Demo - XStar (Almost more of a hook up and ride with the guys session than a formal demo)
We had 5 adults and poor test conditions with winds and chop from a busy public lake.

Fill time was awesome at a tick over 3 minutes. The fast fill option is legit.

Wave looked great and cleaned up the quickest of all the boats. Switch overs were quick and seemless. The transfer tank set up seems to be legit but would like to see it in action at max capacity.

I personally had a hard time staying in the pocket but the rest of the crew did awesome with airs, grinds, floaters and spins. My set was not ideal with wind direction and chop and would love to try in a more controlled set up.

I did not get to drive it but the bow rise seemed pretty similar to the G. From the water side the boat looks super weighted down (more so than my weighted G) but never took water over the front even with the chop.

The 7.4 had plenty of power at our 5600’ elevation but is not near as quiet or smooth as our XRS550. Something I would miss. I have heard it’s pretty thirsty but they recorded the hours from two different demos and consumption looked to be around 7gph which is quite a bit better than my 13 does with the smaller drive ratio and prop.

Seat comfort was awesome but I would miss the port and starboard side rear facing seat backs as we use this much more than the center seats.



2nd Demo
X24
Again we had 5 adults and poor test conditions with winds and chop from a busy public lake but not quite as bad as the first test.

Fill time was awesome but a bit longer at over 4 minutes. Ballast totals are similar so not sure why the difference.

The wave did not look quite as long as the Star nor quite as clean IMHO. Switch overs were also quick and seemless but would like to see it in action at max or higher capacity as well. I think we were so far below the boats capacity that who knows what it will look like loaded. This is one BIG boat and feels a little too big for my use but is a very nice boat.

The boat had the 6.2 450hp with a stock prop and felt overwhelmed. Top speed was very low but unclear if the ballast was all the way emptied.

The 3 tab quick launch feels like it needs to be used with caution as it feels like it could dive the nose (at least with the ballast we has and the crew which was 2 adults in the bow)
The single tab was much better but the boat will porpoise violently if not positioned properly.

Equiped with dockstar and the boat turns very well and effortlessly at speed. Better than our G.

For the second demo in a MC, the auto volume was not being used on the stereo and they would simply hit the touch volume up and down each time. I turned it on and even though I had the progression turned all the way up, it still seemed too loud at idle and too quiet at surf speed. We run ours on 4 of 5 and hardly ever need to adjust it.



3rd Demo
Centurion Ri237

3 adults, stock ballast and they added 300 lbs of lead to simulate a more normal crew size. Demo was on our private lake and that made for a much better test condition.

Ramfill seemed off as we never could get water out the side vents but the boat got obviously heavy. Took more time than I would have thought to get to that point however.

They have a surf setting of full on Ramfill and full on the PNP’s in the rear but the center subfloor was empty as was the PNP under the bow cushions.
Bow rise was much higher than the others and much higher than our G. Sitting from the observers seat turning to look forward will not allow you to see the water in front.

I did did experiment with adding some to the front but the result was not that much different and the bow rise was still more than my liking. I did a little internet searching and found that on a depth more than 12’, this was the preferred setting.

Seating, vinyl may be of good quality but is much stiffer and less supple. Seating positions are more upright and less comfortable for us anyway.

As far as the little things, let me just say our life with the Nautique has spoiled us. No auto volume on the stereo, seats missing hinges (although they say that is coming on new builds),rigging under the hatch, glove box design, water management around the cabin, dash quality, rear hatch design etc.

Power, the 6.0 seemed under powered and we certainly would opt for the 6.2. Turns at speed and setting up for a double up would scrub speed badly.

Surf wave. Favorite of the test. Not as tall as ours but based upon our dragging rope test and riding set we would say it is 10%-15% longer, easier to ride on the top and do spin tricks in the transition areas if that makes sense. But for us, it was not a game changer for our abilities and enough to overlook the rest of our observations.

The switch over is not as seemless as I would have thought with their adjustable rudder design and listing is required which takes some tweaking on the ballast settings to switch.
Adjustsbility is their playing card but we found it a bit overwhelming to get set up compared to the others. Timers and various settings seemed to be user defined and even back to dock did not fully empty the PNP bags.


4th Demo
18 G23
crew of 5 adults and good conditions other than on a semi busy public lake.

With stock ballast, it acquired the wave quickly and regular to goofy transitions were very fast. Not sure how it would change with more weight as ours is certainly different as the weight increases. Fill time was 8:15.

I noticed quite a bit more rooster in the center of the wave than ours which surprised me with stock ballast. Not a huge impact to riding but noticed a little bit when navigating the top of the wave.

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the 450 motor based upon the other test. It even had a stock prop but very curious how it would change with some weight.

The stereo did not seem to sound much different than the one we currently have. This boat only had one set of tower speakers like ours has and it did not have the wave front speaker option. One observation from one of our friends is that the tower speakers project much more sound on the rear seats than our old speaker design and felt like it was an uncomfortable sound level even though it did not seem that loud as the rider.

Not it much wind but I can see where the bow spray would be improved.

Everything else is typical awesome nautique. The most intuitive display, the most functional storage and the step down walk through with a designated step on the seat is simply the most functional for us anyways. Nautique set the seating standard and other than the X24 it is still the standard. Batteries and cooler below the floor deck is still the bomb.



We we finished off the test by going back to our lake and I repositioned my 1000# of lead to be only in the mid and front and let my PNP’s do all of the rear weight. I would estimate 400# in each locker so 1800 additional in total. Fill time was 10 minutes with the PNP’# tagging along for the final 4 minutes of that fill time.
Wave was the tallest of the bunch and as long as I have ever had it but slow to acquire and it would take some weight moving to clean up the goofy side. Had a blast this last holiday weekend and for the most part we were the only ones on the lake and burned through the whole tank on our little 120 acre lake

Our summary
If we were solely judging on surf wave it would go to the Centurion and and then ours with how it is weighted. But there is more to a boat than just this for me anyways. If ours sank tomorrow I would likely work on a deal for a new XStar but would need another test to confirm my suspicions.

All of the dealers were great and I would not hesitate to recommend any one of them local to the area. And to that note there is not a bad boat in the bunch and each has their own strengths in the market.

As as it stands now, I think I will wait for 2020 to see what Nautique’s next generation looks like and hope they answer with faster fill and longer wave options but retain what I still feel is the best in the segment. Right now there is not quite enough differences for me to cut the big check.

Sorry for the long winded post and hope others find the information useful.

Cheers

[Miljack]

Awesome write up and thanks for taking the time for the very detailed descriptions! Also, I realize this is a Nautique site, but your your review(s) are neutral and very informative!

[SoCal G-Man]

Update

Great information! Thank you!!!

[Samu]

I have a Generation 2 Hull, (2017 G 23) and have 750 lbs of steel shot bags in it at all times. I only surf now and I will say with all ballasts 100% in addtion to the 750 lbs of lead , I have a great wake whether 1 person in the boat or 6.Prior to the steel shot bags addtion with one to two people, the wake was only OK

Can I ask you, how you have distributed that amount of weight in your G23? And are you still happy with that setup?

[GMLIII]

Can I ask you, how you have distributed that amount of weight in your G23? And are you still happy with that setup?

Yes still happy. Bow starboard 100 lbs shot bags, Bow portside 100 lbs shot bags, Portside observer seat 250 lbs shot bags, Portside midship 150 lbs shot bags, Starbooard midship 150 lbs shot bags. No shot bags in stern of boat. All stock ballast 100 %. This is my ideally setup but you will get hundreds of different opinions from the forum on this topic.

[Samu]

This is my ideally setup but you will get hundreds of different opinions from the forum on this topic.

Of course, there are many opinions on this subject, which makes the experience reports even more exciting ;-) I have a G23/17 and I think I will start a few attempts with some additional ballast next season. Thanks for your appreciated feedback!

[Wake.BC]

The ri237 needs the H6 if you really want to push it and have extra power. I find the interior on them isn’t super fancy but it’s crazy durable.


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[GMLIII]

Of course, there are many opinions on this subject, which makes the experience reports even more exciting ;-) I have a G23/17 and I think I will start a few attempts with some additional ballast next season. Thanks for your appreciated feedback!

I have the same boat as you, G23 2017. I don't know if Wake Ballast and LeadWake have free shipping to Switzerland, LOL but I would at least order 10 (50 lbs) shot bags because there is a discount if you order 10 at a time. I feel certain you would at least want 500 lbs of steel shot bags. That is what I did initially until I tweaked my wake further by purchased an addtional 5 (50 lbs) bags for a total of 750 lbs of steel shot bags.