Question on after-market ballast in 2021 G23

[Johnny_Rock]

Been looking at a 2021 G23. It needs additional weight.

One dealer has told me they can install two 750lb sacks under the floor in the rear; he's telling me there would be a pretty seamless fill and empty operation. Would not integrate with the factory screen--but they'd install separate switches on the dash; so just fill until it spits out water. This has me intrigued.

A second dealer told me it could not be done under the floor.

Both say they have talked to a Nautique rep about this.

Pros I can think of: 1./ No more lead; 2./ 2021 boat with empty ballasts would be roughly 400lbs lighter than my 2016 and the 500lbs of lead I have in it; 3./ Same boat lift would work; 4./ Boat lighter for towing and non-surfing activities.

Cons: 1./ Can't move lead around to try to fine tune the wave (unless you add more lead and thus more weight); 2./ Much more expensive; 3./ Might need an expensive boat lift upgrade.

Looking for any possible information on this.

[astilley]

I am very interested on this topic as well. I definitely would not recommend installing separate switches on the dash. It is a shame that Nautique just didn't give the boat a larger ballast from the factory.

[LakePowellMan]

I was disappointed to see a battery compartment added behind the port side observer seat in the 2021 G23, Compared to my 2016 there's a huge loss of storage space in that compartment with the floor raised. I have four batteries installed (Stereo) under the floor near the drain plug in my 2016...which makes me wonder why they couldn't fit two batteries there in 2021. There is less underfloor ballast and less storage in 2021. I'm sure I'm missing something but at first glance that was a big disappointment for me.

[NautiqueJeff]

The batteries were moves to counter the prop torque and the need in pre-2021 G-series boats to add 200+ pounds of ballast to the port side for the boat to ride evenly.

[greggmck]

Been looking at a 2021 G23. It needs additional weight.

One dealer has told me they can install two 750lb sacks under the floor in the rear; he's telling me there would be a pretty seamless fill and empty operation. Would not integrate with the factory screen--but they'd install separate switches on the dash; so just fill until it spits out water. This has me intrigued.

A second dealer told me it could not be done under the floor.

Both say they have talked to a Nautique rep about this.

Pros I can think of: 1./ No more lead; 2./ 2021 boat with empty ballasts would be roughly 400lbs lighter than my 2016 and the 500lbs of lead I have in it; 3./ Same boat lift would work; 4./ Boat lighter for towing and non-surfing activities.

Cons: 1./ Can't move lead around to try to fine tune the wave (unless you add more lead and thus more weight); 2./ Much more expensive; 3./ Might need an expensive boat lift upgrade.

Looking for any possible information on this.

Personally I would never put 1500 lbs of additional ballast in the 2021 G23 especially with the ZZ6 engine, not because I think the engine can't handle the weight but because when I surfed the 2021 with 800 lbs of lead the wave was outstanding. However if I were critical I would say that wave was perhaps a bit too strong. The center column of water from the 17x17 prop on the ZZ6 was very solid, perhaps a bit too much. When the wave is too firm it makes falls a bit more painful but more importantly it's more difficult to edge into the wave to get drive and land airs or spin tricks. I suppose if someone just wants to carve around for the foreseeable future that much weight would be ok, but I believe it would limit ones progress to becoming a proficient surfer. It also won't make many skim riders happy because when the wave is that firm skim riders feel like they are on ice. It is not very forgiving.

Personally the 2021 with about 500 to 800 lbs of additional weight produces a wave that is better than anything nearly everyone has ever ridden. At some point more is NOT more.

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[LakePowellMan]

The batteries were moves to counter the prop torque and the need in pre-2021 G-series boats to add 200+ pounds of ballast to the port side for the boat to ride evenly.

Thank you, that makes sense. I will say my 250# of lead is far smaller and preserves a ton of storage space that I will really miss when the time comes to upgrade.

[Johnny_Rock]

Personally I would never put 1500 lbs of additional ballast in the 2021 G23 especially with the ZZ6 engine, not because I think the engine can't handle the weight but because when I surfed the 2021 with 800 lbs of lead the wave was outstanding. However if I were critical I would say that wave was perhaps a bit too strong. The center column of water from the 17x17 prop on the ZZ6 was very solid, perhaps a bit too much. When the wave is too firm it makes falls a bit more painful but more importantly it's more difficult to edge into the wave to get drive and land airs or spin tricks. I suppose if someone just wants to carve around for the foreseeable future that much weight would be ok, but I believe it would limit ones progress to becoming a proficient surfer. It also won't make many skim riders happy because when the wave is that firm skim riders feel like they are on ice. It is not very forgiving.

Personally the 2021 with about 500 to 800 lbs of additional weight produces a wave that is better than anything nearly everyone has ever ridden. At some point more is NOT more.

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That's funny because that's exactly what I told the guy--that it was a bit too much.

[DanLG21]

That was the one thing keeping me from ordering a 2021, I sold my 2017 G21 this year and I just surfed the new 2021 G23 on a demo with no lead 2 guys in the boat and was not impressed. I did not see anymore adjustment from previous years length wise just seemed to get steeper the closer to 10 you went. I am a Nautique guy thru and thru but I feel like people are not calling out having less ballast as a big issue. I surfed a MC X22 and stock had more length and push than the 2021 G23 stock. Every owner of the 2021 I have talked to says add 800 pounds of lead and it will smoke the X22. My issue with that is driving around with 800 extra pounds makes the boat drive like a pig when you have 4-5 people on board. They did improve on the electric steering and the lean from prop torque that would drive me nuts when driving with just my wife and I. I just do not understand how They designed a boat that people need to add lead into to get a decent wave. I know every boat needs lead, I agree as long as they all have acceptable ballast weight in the first place. Centurion, MC both are not going to go down in ballast weight. I believe this happened because Nautique designed this boat for the paragon with the heavy tower and rushed to production without changing bottom deck to accomodate for a lighter tower. When people that own paragons add lead then we all know the G23 could of atleast kept its 2850 of ballast as a starting point. I am not brand loyal and all though I love the looks of the new G hull I can not buy a boat for looks, Every time my neighbor drives by me in his X22 I am going to ask myself did I make a mistake.

[FireBreathingRubberDucky]

That was the one thing keeping me from ordering a 2021, I sold my 2017 G21 this year and I just surfed the new 2021 G23 on a demo with no lead 2 guys in the boat and was not impressed. I did not see anymore adjustment from previous years length wise just seemed to get steeper the closer to 10 you went. I am a Nautique guy thru and thru but I feel like people are not calling out having less ballast as a big issue. I surfed a MC X22 and stock had more length and push than the 2021 G23 stock. Every owner of the 2021 I have talked to says add 800 pounds of lead and it will smoke the X22. My issue with that is driving around with 800 extra pounds makes the boat drive like a pig when you have 4-5 people on board. They did improve on the electric steering and the lean from prop torque that would drive me nuts when driving with just my wife and I. I just do not understand how They designed a boat that people need to add lead into to get a decent wave. I know every boat needs lead, I agree as long as they all have acceptable ballast weight in the first place. Centurion, MC both are not going to go down in ballast weight. I believe this happened because Nautique designed this boat for the paragon with the heavy tower and rushed to production without changing bottom deck to accomodate for a lighter tower. When people that own paragons add lead then we all know the G23 could of atleast kept its 2850 of ballast as a starting point. I am not brand loyal and all though I love the looks of the new G hull I can not buy a boat for looks, Every time my neighbor drives by me in his X22 I am going to ask myself did I make a mistake.

I was also frustrated and a little taken back when the ballast numbers not only didn't go up but actually went down. It's definitely a head scratcher to me, as putting about 3,600lbs of ballast in this boat would make it unbelievable. That being said, I also believe Nautique may be up to something with this, specifically for the long haul (I may or may not have gotten insider info lol). I have also been informed, after doing some digging, there is actually room for more subfloor ballast and as such, will be adding this to my boat when it becomes available (specific numbers haven't been worked out). However, I have ridden behind the 2021 G23 with only 400lbs of lead and 3 people onboard and had a completely different experience from you. I'm coming from a 2020 G23 with 800lbs of lead and while the wave was firm and steep, I was not at all pleased with its lack of adjustability. I feel like the 2021 is significantly more adjustable and I surfed everything form 1-10 in terms of wave setting. I also went from 11.3 mph through 12.3 mph and can tell you having the setting at 10 at 12.3 mph created a wave that was significantly longer than anything my 2020 could put out and had more push all the way into the curl than I expected for that kind of speed. The X22 I rode behind doesn't even belong sniffing the fart of the 2021 G23, though this could have simply come down to setup. However, the X24 wave is long, adjustable and has tons of push and I was very impressed with that boat. Ultimately, the overall quality of the G in conjunction with having an excellent local dealer and what I feel is a considerably improved hull design over my 2021 has me coming back to Nautique and this was honestly a close call for me, as I really liked the X24. The Centurion Ri245 looks like it puts out a stellar wave as well.

[GMLIII]

I was also frustrated and a little taken back when the ballast numbers not only didn't go up but actually went down. It's definitely a head scratcher to me, as putting about 3,600lbs of ballast in this boat would make it unbelievable. That being said, I also believe Nautique may be up to something with this, specifically for the long haul (I may or may not have gotten insider info lol). I have also been informed, after doing some digging, there is actually room for more subfloor ballast and as such, will be adding this to my boat when it becomes available (specific numbers haven't been worked out). However, I have ridden behind the 2021 G23 with only 400lbs of lead and 3 people onboard and had a completely different experience from you. I'm coming from a 2020 G23 with 800lbs of lead and while the wave was firm and steep, I was not at all pleased with its lack of adjustability. I feel like the 2021 is significantly more adjustable and I surfed everything form 1-10 in terms of wave setting. I also went from 11.3 mph through 12.3 mph and can tell you having the setting at 10 at 12.3 mph created a wave that was significantly longer than anything my 2020 could put out and had more push all the way into the curl than I expected for that kind of speed. The X22 I rode behind doesn't even belong sniffing the fart of the 2021 G23, though this could have simply come down to setup. However, the X24 wave is long, adjustable and has tons of push and I was very impressed with that boat. Ultimately, the overall quality of the G in conjunction with having an excellent local dealer and what I feel is a considerably improved hull design over my 2021 has me coming back to Nautique and this was honestly a close call for me, as I really liked the X24. The Centurion Ri245 looks like it puts out a stellar wave as well.

"Sniffing the fart of 2021 G23". That is a good one, I will remember. LOL

[HAWKS2842]

Can you add the mid ship tanks on the 22s after delivery? Ordered a 21 myself and got pushed to a 22 and I didnt know about the additional ballast option until last week. The boat is estimated to be completed July15. The dealer says nautique told him the order is locked and cannot make additions or changes and I’d really like to have that extra ballast setup personally

[macpres]

We have a 2021 G23 and there is a ton of room under the floor on both sides for ballast, two options the way i see it, plug and play another bag under the floor and just hit full on Link until it drains out of vent, option 2 would be to install 2 more pumps and switches for those bags. The room is def there.

[lj99]

Personally I would never put 1500 lbs of additional ballast in the 2021 G23 especially with the ZZ6 engine, not because I think the engine can't handle the weight but because when I surfed the 2021 with 800 lbs of lead the wave was outstanding. However if I were critical I would say that wave was perhaps a bit too strong. The center column of water from the 17x17 prop on the ZZ6 was very solid, perhaps a bit too much. When the wave is too firm it makes falls a bit more painful but more importantly it's more difficult to edge into the wave to get drive and land airs or spin tricks. I suppose if someone just wants to carve around for the foreseeable future that much weight would be ok, but I believe it would limit ones progress to becoming a proficient surfer. It also won't make many skim riders happy because when the wave is that firm skim riders feel like they are on ice. It is not very forgiving.

Personally the 2021 with about 500 to 800 lbs of additional weight produces a wave that is better than anything nearly everyone has ever ridden. At some point more is NOT more.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I have the 2021 G23 with the ZZ8 engine plus 1,000 lbs of lead. I'm assuming the ZZ6 comes with a different prop? My hope is to have the paragon equivalent weight. I saw in another of your posts you have 400 lbs of lead in your paragon. I'm assuming that's because the prop is different which would produce a different firmness of wake compared to the G23 with the ZZ6 engine and prop?

I'd love to add bags under my subfloor in a way that makes it user friendly and won't hurt resale.

In another post I read that a 2021 G25 owner removed the factory ballast bags under the floor and swapped them out for custom bags that filled the entire subfloor ballast area. I believe he said that made the total of 1,450 lbs per side. I believe he used the existing pumps to plug into those custom bags, so he could use the Linc screen. He said he had to hit fill twice and empty twice from the screen. He did say you have to be careful when emptying. He had to listen carefully for the pumps running dry and would hit stop.

I'd love for any other ideas on how to implement additional subfloor ballast. Would it be possible to do the same set up as the guy I mentioned above and change the timers on the pumps to run longer and empty longer? That way you could use the existing screen and pumps?

[bird_dog0347]

While I'm sure there's a significant portion of the price that reflects the R&D, I have to say, $2k for only ballast bags and instructions seems pretty steep.