230 vs GS24 vs G23... help me decide!

[Mr DW]

I have a 2015 Axis A24. It was my first boat and we love it, but I'd like to move up to something nicer and newer. We surf 60%, wakeboard 30%, and tube 10%. We are novice/intermediate at surfing/wakeboarding. Most our our boating is done at a small local 1800 acre lake that is 10 minutes from my house. Once or twice a year we will go to a big lake for a weekend. We have 6 in our family and usually have about 4-10 people on the boat, but have up to 12-14 when we invite our extended family.

I know our next boat will be a Nautique, but can't decide which one is best for us. Since the Axis was our first boat, we don't have a lot of prior experience to pull from. Below are my thoughts on the different models, please give me your input...

230 - would probably buy new and get the exact colors/options we want. I love the small "sports car" feel and low freeboard old-school looks. Plus it sure would be easy to tow and get in and out of the lake, especially when there is just 3 or 4 of us during the weeknights. Also its the most economical. The biggest issue is that my kids LOVE the pickle fork bow.

GS24 - dealer has a great trade in on a 2020 with colors/options I like. This is most like what we have now and it is what I keep coming back to as the best option for us but it just doesn't excite me as much as the 230 or G23, but I do love the transom seats. Also, this option gives us the opportunity to start skiing.

G23 - I would probably look for a used 2017-2020 model. Can't go wrong with the mack-daddy. Obviously the most luxurious and has the best wake/wave, but I'm sure the wake/wave on the 230 and GS24 are great. My biggest concern is that it is overkill for our use as a boat we tow to a smallish lake. I have a 3/4 ton Suburban (9600lb) and a land rover LR4 (7750lb) and a Mercedes GL63 (7500lb). I don't want to have ONLY use the Suburban. The GL and the LR4 do great with our 4500lb Axis.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[hal2814]

I don’t have personal experience with the GS24. I find it hard to find information on it. I can’t help you there except to say there aren’t threads around with info on things like how to set it up to surf and to me that’s a little telling. It’s also telling that they even still sell a 230 when the GS22 and GS24 exist.

I have a 230. I’m actually contemplating right now going to a new 230 or getting a used G23. Which boat has a better surf wave is arguable. You can set up a 230 to have a better surf wave than a stock G23 but once you get them both dialed in the G23 is a little bit better shaped and cleaner wave while the 230 is a bit longer. The G23 also rides faster which is nice for larger riders. The better wakeboarding boat is not even a question. G23 all day. The 230 is solid if you like to ride fast (22+ MPH). You laugh but the 230 is absolutely better at tubing. The 230 just drives and corners better.

Other things you can see. The G23 is bigger and nicer. There’s a lot more storage. Storage gets tight on a 230 once you get set up to surf. I’ll probably end up in a G23 but the 230 makes that tough. It’s a solid boat. And I’m not 100% myself on it and I’ve owned Nautiques for most of my boating life.

[gonefishin5555]

I have the GS-22. You will love the rear seats and also the bow with the filler cushion is super comfy to hang out in also. We had a deal on a 230 at the dealer but a used gs22 with 30 hours popped up locally. That decision was a no brainer. The gs is an upgrade to the 230 in my opinion. I’d get the gs24 if I were you and then you can have the ultimate goal of finding a 2021 or newer G boat with the paragon hull down the line in a couple years.

[kylant]

I have a GS22, had a GS20.
went back and forth between a new 230 and the GS22. Demo'd the 230, skied it.
I like the traditional styling, deeper v, and higher freeboard on the the 230. Our lake gets pretty windy and rough.

We ended up going with the GS22.
The new styling and overall feel of the boat had us go back to the GS series. The bow is much bigger than the 230.
Storage is about the same.

The real deciding factor for us is that we still ski. We actually prefer to ski, but the kids prefer to surf and wakeboard. This has been a great do it all boat.

IF my wife and I did not ski, I would go with a G23 all day. no question. Nautique also redesigned the hull of the 24 and I have heard it puts out a near/comparable wave to the G ?

It sounds like with your size crew the 230 might be a touch small. The GS24 might be the best option for your situation.

Tough choice, good luck!

[MBarker]

There is a lot of great information on this site about the 230 and G23, but far less on the GS24. I recently purchased a GS24 and did a write-up on this forum. You may want to review it. My advice would be:

1. Water test each boat as much as you can. Compare them to your AXIS and determine which boat best suits your needs. You may find that your AXIS still meets your needs and you can wait a bit longer before purchasing and allow the market to normalize a bit, which will help on the purchase (maybe not as much on the sale/trade-in).
2. I did not evaluate the 230, but did extensively evaluate the G23 and GS24. From your OP, you make it pretty clear that wake surfing and wakeboarding are what you primarily do. If that holds, you will likely be most satisfied with the G23. We have had our GS24 for a few months now and have put 50 hours on it. We have tubed more than I would like to admit, but the kids just enjoy it. It also allows for more kids to be involved in an activity at the same time. The handling of the GS is much better than the G, so for tubing it is more fun to drive.
3. The biggest unanswered question about the GS24 is it’s surf capabilities. I am not experienced enough yet to provide great insight, and there is still limited information on this site. If you search and read the post I wrote there is some discussion on the GS surf wave. Much of it is from GS22 owners. I have worked with my oldest son and to some extent my wife on determining how to dial in the push of our wave. From what I have read on this forum, every Nautique boat benefits from added weight when surfing. I think the GS boat is similar, but due to the GS24’s added length, I’m thinking/experiencing that it takes a bit more effort/thought and adjustment to dial it in. Yesterday my son told me that he didn’t feel like he was getting enough push. Based on commentary from this forum, I reduced the belly ballast by 20% and it cleaned up the wave and provided more push. I have yet to get an experienced adult surfer behind my boat, but in a couple of weeks I have some time booked with two buddies that are experienced surfers and will use that time to help me dial in the surf wave. From a kid and wife perspective, the wave on our GS24 has been very good. I can report back more surf wave input in a couple of weeks. Nautique made adjustments to the 2019 GS hull to improve the surf wave. Based on their 2021 release it seems that they made further refinements to the GS hull, but visually I cannot tell a difference.
4. You also said that you are interested in skiing. Based on what others have said on this site, the GS will be best, then the 230 and then the G. One of the buddies going out with me likes to slalom and I’ll report back on that. If you are not going to ski, then it doesn’t matter.
5. You already know pricing, and a G comes with a premium. You get a lot for that premium, but you have to determine if what you get best meets your family’s needs and budget. We have greatly enjoyed the GS24 and I would not want a smaller boat or a boat with less storage since we trailer to the lake. We also routinely have 10+/- people on the boat and it’s great for that many people.

[Mr DW]

Thanks everyone for your input. Lots of good info to ponder. I think I need to rule out the 230 because of the bow - the kids really want a big bow.
As for the g23 vs g24, it comes down to towing. My 3/4 ton Suburban can handle the extra weight of the G23, but is it a bigger pain to tow and get in and out of the water?

[mooneywa]

Agreed on the rule-out of the 230. I have one and it's great for us, but mostly because we have a dock and don't need to carry everything with us. If we had to trailer it everytime we went out, storage would be less than desirable. Good luck with the search!

[azgeez]

We loved our GS24, spent 200+ hours surfing, wakeboarding, and tubing behind it this past year. We’ve had all skill levels surf behind it and never really had anyone complain about not enough. I’m a bigger guy, 6’ 225lbs and never had a problem with the push with our set up - 800lb bags in each locker and between 300 and 800lbs of lead depending (150 under the passenger, 50-100 in the bow, the rest just in front of the rear lockers favoring the surf side, on the crew.

We had the H6 motor, which I felt like was a must with that weight, and repropped to a high torque prop.

Things we loved:

- Driveability - was super responsive, easy to get around the lake, in and out of marinas, etc. even at its length
- Ability to build great waves and wakes
- Great for pulling tubes too, I don't see this talked about much (maybe for good reasons), but with kids of all ages and abilities, we spent some real time pulling tubes, and it's a different experience than pulling behind the G.
- Space - I have three teenagers so we typically had a bigger group with us and having the additional seating was nice
- Transom seats. These are a crowd pleaser - added to the 2020 G, but not 2019.

Things we didn't like:

- Out of the box wave was good but not great
- With all the weight we added we had to reprop; also note that we had the H6 engine; which would now be the ZZ6 which I think is a must on this boat.
- low freeboard means lots of spray
- lack of good storage space - bags in rear lockers and coolers in under seat compartments robbed quite a bit of storage


All that said, we just ordered a 2021 G23..

Here’s a couple of pics from our Powell trip in May. We bent the high torque prop and had to go back to the stocker on this trip which meant we dumped weight. I think we only had 100lbs under the passenger on this trip...

[MBarker]

I wanted to report back on the GS24 surf wave. I got out with a couple of buddies that are more experienced surfers than me. The general feedback was very positive. Phrases like...great wave...excellent push...better than my Centurion (I'm not shading on Centurion. I'm not sure what model it is, but know its a 23ft 2019 model only sharing my friends comments)...etc. We (2 adults in the boat) surfed with full ballast, full pro-ballast, full tank of gas, NCRS 5, NSS 0 and 10.8mph. Overall I'm pleased with the surf wave and boat.