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Earlier this week, I was able to travel down to the Nautique factory to spend some time with the people behind the design and marketing of the S23, as well as a couple of riders who you all know. Before I get into the boat, I just want to state how lucky we all are to have people like this designing, building, marketing, and riding behind the boats that we all love. I have known most of these people for years, and they just don't come any better. They are exceptional designers and engineers, great marketing minds, and the best riders in the world. And on top of that, they are just great people. Thanks go out to all of them for having me down!
My day started before I even headed over to the factory, with a call from Steve Carlton, who some of you may know as the Chief Designer at Nautique. He's the man behind the design of pretty much all Nautiques over the last couple of decades. We discussed a couple of my restoration boats that I have worked on recently, and he told me that due to unavoidable circumstances, he wouldn't be able to be at the factory that day, but that he'd FaceTime me once I got there and go through the S23 with me.
And that's exactly what he did.
When I arrived at the factory test lake, I found Brian Sullivan (Nautique VP of Marketing), Eric Miller (Nautique Chief Engineer), Noah Flegel (Pro Wakesurf and Wakeboard Athlete), and the one and only Shaun Murray waiting on the dock. Brian handed me a phone and there was Steve, just as promised. He talked me through the boat, explaining the design and layout, the high freeboard, the stitching used in the boat, etc.
There were several things that I found very interesting. One was the way they designed the transom seats. Those seats are angled in, to promote the feeling of togetherness in the boat, but also because it gives the person in the seat a better place to put their feet on the swim platform.
Another interesting design detail is that the beam is 100", which is less than the G-series boats, but the same as the GS-series. This allows the boat to meet tow width restrictions that some countries outside of the US have, making the boat easier to sell abroad. Here are the full specs.
The windshield design is also different than anything they've had before. There's less curvature, different sides, and the navigation lights are not part of the windshield like they are on the G-series.
The 2,650 pounds of standard ballast is sub-floor, but the optional supplemental ballast (two 250-pound sacks) is located in the rear compartments. It was stressed that the supplemental ballast should be used to add weight only if you do not have a full crew on the boat. If there are more than five or six people onboard, it is not needed. Here's the supplemental ballast. Even with it full, there is still significant storage in the rear compartments. Also, each supplemental sack has its own pump, so you can use these to level the boat side-to-side if necessary.
The available space in the bow was probably the biggest surprise to me. I am 6' 2", and I was EASILY able to stretch my legs out fully while sitting in the bow facing forward, and still have some room to spare. Here's a picture of the bow with Murray on the driver's side and you can see my legs on the passenger side. Neither of us were short on leg room. The bow space is massive, and you totally feel locked in with the design of the cushions and the high freeboard. I did not expect this traditional bow to feel so spacious.
The interior configuration can be adjusted to your preferences. It can be a full wrap-around, or you can use the flip-up seats on either side to create rear-facing seating. The rear bench also moves in a similar way to the G-series boats, so you can have a full rear-facing bench if desired. Other seats hide other cool components, like a removable trash can, and a removable cooler. There is also lots of storage under additional seating. The seating itself is supportive and comfortable, with the use of different wedge-shaped features to keep you feeling stable in your seat while underway.
The S23 also has a different thruster (Nautique Integrated Steering Assist) than what is used on other Nautiques. This new thruster works well, and is very fast, however it does not offer adjustable speeds, so it cannot be integrated into the steering automatically like the thruster on other Nautiques can. This thruster can be activated using either the LINC Panoray Touch Display or Helm Command, but cannot be set to automatically assist based on the position of the steering wheel.
NSS and NCRS work similarly to other newer Nautique models, and help this new hull create very impressive wakes and waves.
The S23 can be ordered with either the Actuated Flight Control Tower, or the Telescoping Flight Control Tower. The boat we were on had the Telescoping FCT option, and I love that tower! It is a slightly different design than what's offered on the Paragon boats, but it works exactly the same. We ran with it in different positions during our day, and it was nice to be able to lower it to get additional sun protection.
Our boat had the ZZ6 engine (6.2L, 450 HP, 465 Torque). Engine options range from the ZR4 (6L, 400 HP) all the way up to the ZZ8 (Supercharged 6.2L, 600 HP). I believe this is the only boat in the Nautique line offering this variety of engines. The only engine not offered is the Yanmar diesel. The ZZ6 in our boat got us up to speed quickly with the five of us onboard, even on the Nautique test lake (which isn't huge), and with full ballast plus supplemental ballast full.
After reviewing the design of the boat, it was time to get on the water! Nautique Chief Engineer Eric Miller took the wheel. Murray was ready to ride.
One of the first things we did out on the water was test the boat without ballast, to see just how slow you could go and still have a clean wake. Here's some footage of Murray riding at speeds as low as 17 MPH. As you can see, the wake is clean on both sides. We probably could have slowed down even more. This is a great thing if you are teaching new riders, and this video may also give some insight into the ski wake on this boat, which we didn't test. Speaking of the ski wake, there is an optional pop-up pylon at the rear of the boat for those who want the option of skiing behind this boat. Getting a clean wake at speeds as low as we were going is difficult on other boats of this size, so this is something that I think is a real strength for the S23. Again, this is zero ballast, and NCRS was at 2.
After testing the low-speed wake, we sped up to normal wakeboard speeds, and watched Murr rip it up. He's always fun to watch, and he did not disappoint. He rode with the sub-floor ballast full, and the supplemental ballast empty. Unfortunately we forgot to adjust the NCRS from our earlier low-speed test, so this video is full standard ballast, but the NCRS was still at 2 instead of 5!!
Noah was up next. He killed it as well, and really shows the capabilities of this boat. We filled the supplemental ballast, fixed our earlier NCRS mistake, and Noah took advantage.
After that, we slowed down to surf speeds and checked out the wave. Even at lower settings, the wave had great shape and strong push throughout. Most of the time, the surf setting was at about 6 or 7 with the speed set at about 10.
Murray jumped in again at the end, and rode with the supplemental ballast full. He was caught off-guard on one attempt, and ended up going down head-first. You may have seen part of the video on his Instagram feed earlier this week. Other than that crazy fall, he killed it as usual, ending with a 900, and his signature Raley and a tumbleturn.
When we got back to the dock, Greg Meloon, President of Nautique Boat Company, was waiting for us. He answered a few more questions for me about the new boat, and offered to answer additional questions for us as they arose. I'll be completing a formal interview with Greg, focusing on the S23, as well as other Nautique-related questions, soon.
By this time, we all had to get going. I was driving from Orlando to White Lake, NC that night, so that I could pick up the 2021 PlanetNautique G23, which White Lake Marine had borrowed for a demo. We wrapped things up, and I took off, thankful that I am able to count these guys as friends. These are great people, and great people make great companies that produce great products. The people at Nautique are doing something right!
I found the S23 to be a boat that performs well and is very comfortable. The ride through the rollers was noticeably smoother than expected, and the boat fits in nicely between the GS-series and the G-series in the lineup. It should certainly be on your demo list if you're looking for a traditional bow boat that has many of the features of the G-series at a lower cost.
According to Nautique, most of the sales reps have an S23 (or will soon), so they should be able to assist any dealer who has customers wanting demos.
Look for our interview with Greg coming soon!
My day started before I even headed over to the factory, with a call from Steve Carlton, who some of you may know as the Chief Designer at Nautique. He's the man behind the design of pretty much all Nautiques over the last couple of decades. We discussed a couple of my restoration boats that I have worked on recently, and he told me that due to unavoidable circumstances, he wouldn't be able to be at the factory that day, but that he'd FaceTime me once I got there and go through the S23 with me.
And that's exactly what he did.
When I arrived at the factory test lake, I found Brian Sullivan (Nautique VP of Marketing), Eric Miller (Nautique Chief Engineer), Noah Flegel (Pro Wakesurf and Wakeboard Athlete), and the one and only Shaun Murray waiting on the dock. Brian handed me a phone and there was Steve, just as promised. He talked me through the boat, explaining the design and layout, the high freeboard, the stitching used in the boat, etc.
There were several things that I found very interesting. One was the way they designed the transom seats. Those seats are angled in, to promote the feeling of togetherness in the boat, but also because it gives the person in the seat a better place to put their feet on the swim platform.
Another interesting design detail is that the beam is 100", which is less than the G-series boats, but the same as the GS-series. This allows the boat to meet tow width restrictions that some countries outside of the US have, making the boat easier to sell abroad. Here are the full specs.
The windshield design is also different than anything they've had before. There's less curvature, different sides, and the navigation lights are not part of the windshield like they are on the G-series.
The 2,650 pounds of standard ballast is sub-floor, but the optional supplemental ballast (two 250-pound sacks) is located in the rear compartments. It was stressed that the supplemental ballast should be used to add weight only if you do not have a full crew on the boat. If there are more than five or six people onboard, it is not needed. Here's the supplemental ballast. Even with it full, there is still significant storage in the rear compartments. Also, each supplemental sack has its own pump, so you can use these to level the boat side-to-side if necessary.
The available space in the bow was probably the biggest surprise to me. I am 6' 2", and I was EASILY able to stretch my legs out fully while sitting in the bow facing forward, and still have some room to spare. Here's a picture of the bow with Murray on the driver's side and you can see my legs on the passenger side. Neither of us were short on leg room. The bow space is massive, and you totally feel locked in with the design of the cushions and the high freeboard. I did not expect this traditional bow to feel so spacious.
The interior configuration can be adjusted to your preferences. It can be a full wrap-around, or you can use the flip-up seats on either side to create rear-facing seating. The rear bench also moves in a similar way to the G-series boats, so you can have a full rear-facing bench if desired. Other seats hide other cool components, like a removable trash can, and a removable cooler. There is also lots of storage under additional seating. The seating itself is supportive and comfortable, with the use of different wedge-shaped features to keep you feeling stable in your seat while underway.
The S23 also has a different thruster (Nautique Integrated Steering Assist) than what is used on other Nautiques. This new thruster works well, and is very fast, however it does not offer adjustable speeds, so it cannot be integrated into the steering automatically like the thruster on other Nautiques can. This thruster can be activated using either the LINC Panoray Touch Display or Helm Command, but cannot be set to automatically assist based on the position of the steering wheel.
NSS and NCRS work similarly to other newer Nautique models, and help this new hull create very impressive wakes and waves.
The S23 can be ordered with either the Actuated Flight Control Tower, or the Telescoping Flight Control Tower. The boat we were on had the Telescoping FCT option, and I love that tower! It is a slightly different design than what's offered on the Paragon boats, but it works exactly the same. We ran with it in different positions during our day, and it was nice to be able to lower it to get additional sun protection.
Our boat had the ZZ6 engine (6.2L, 450 HP, 465 Torque). Engine options range from the ZR4 (6L, 400 HP) all the way up to the ZZ8 (Supercharged 6.2L, 600 HP). I believe this is the only boat in the Nautique line offering this variety of engines. The only engine not offered is the Yanmar diesel. The ZZ6 in our boat got us up to speed quickly with the five of us onboard, even on the Nautique test lake (which isn't huge), and with full ballast plus supplemental ballast full.
After reviewing the design of the boat, it was time to get on the water! Nautique Chief Engineer Eric Miller took the wheel. Murray was ready to ride.
One of the first things we did out on the water was test the boat without ballast, to see just how slow you could go and still have a clean wake. Here's some footage of Murray riding at speeds as low as 17 MPH. As you can see, the wake is clean on both sides. We probably could have slowed down even more. This is a great thing if you are teaching new riders, and this video may also give some insight into the ski wake on this boat, which we didn't test. Speaking of the ski wake, there is an optional pop-up pylon at the rear of the boat for those who want the option of skiing behind this boat. Getting a clean wake at speeds as low as we were going is difficult on other boats of this size, so this is something that I think is a real strength for the S23. Again, this is zero ballast, and NCRS was at 2.
After testing the low-speed wake, we sped up to normal wakeboard speeds, and watched Murr rip it up. He's always fun to watch, and he did not disappoint. He rode with the sub-floor ballast full, and the supplemental ballast empty. Unfortunately we forgot to adjust the NCRS from our earlier low-speed test, so this video is full standard ballast, but the NCRS was still at 2 instead of 5!!
Noah was up next. He killed it as well, and really shows the capabilities of this boat. We filled the supplemental ballast, fixed our earlier NCRS mistake, and Noah took advantage.
After that, we slowed down to surf speeds and checked out the wave. Even at lower settings, the wave had great shape and strong push throughout. Most of the time, the surf setting was at about 6 or 7 with the speed set at about 10.
Murray jumped in again at the end, and rode with the supplemental ballast full. He was caught off-guard on one attempt, and ended up going down head-first. You may have seen part of the video on his Instagram feed earlier this week. Other than that crazy fall, he killed it as usual, ending with a 900, and his signature Raley and a tumbleturn.
When we got back to the dock, Greg Meloon, President of Nautique Boat Company, was waiting for us. He answered a few more questions for me about the new boat, and offered to answer additional questions for us as they arose. I'll be completing a formal interview with Greg, focusing on the S23, as well as other Nautique-related questions, soon.
By this time, we all had to get going. I was driving from Orlando to White Lake, NC that night, so that I could pick up the 2021 PlanetNautique G23, which White Lake Marine had borrowed for a demo. We wrapped things up, and I took off, thankful that I am able to count these guys as friends. These are great people, and great people make great companies that produce great products. The people at Nautique are doing something right!
I found the S23 to be a boat that performs well and is very comfortable. The ride through the rollers was noticeably smoother than expected, and the boat fits in nicely between the GS-series and the G-series in the lineup. It should certainly be on your demo list if you're looking for a traditional bow boat that has many of the features of the G-series at a lower cost.
According to Nautique, most of the sales reps have an S23 (or will soon), so they should be able to assist any dealer who has customers wanting demos.
Look for our interview with Greg coming soon!
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