Let’s sack out a GS24

[hal2814]

I knew at some point I’d end up trading in my 230 for a G23. That day finally came last week when I traded my 230 for… a 2021 GS24? Really? I must do crossover stuff like skiing? No. I surf like 90% of the time I’m on the water. I pull my kids on tubes the other 10%. So why not the G? For starters, my budget didn’t allow a 2021+ G23. I think if that were the case, that’s what we would’ve bought. Budget-wise we were looking at up to a 2019 G23. While I do like the surf wave of the 2nd gen G23 hull, I’m not floored with it. In some respected I preferred my very sacked out 230. I also preferred almost everything else about the GS24. So could I get a wave I’m happy with out of the GS24? I decided to find out on a test drive.

The first thing I needed was weight. Even with pro ballast I’m pushing 2,800lbs of water on a 5,100lb hull. That’s only 7,900lbs. That’s less than my 230 (8,400lbs of boat, lead, and ballast). Those are rookie numbers. I tried it their way on the test drive and the results were… not comparable. The typical setup used on the 2nd gen G23 is a 5,900lb hull, 2,850lbs ballast, and 800lbs of lead for 9,450lbs total. So I came to the test drive with two 800lb bags I had to manually fill and a 650lb locker bag to put up in the front walkway. That puts the GS24 at 9,850lbs total. I know weight isn’t everything but it’s a good starting point. What I got out of that was enough for me to pull the trigger and purchase the GS24. The regular foot way was amazing but a little short. The goofy wave was have a little bit of an issue with cleaning up but nothing major for a first run.

So as of a week ago I own a 2021 GS24. The next step was to permanently plumb in 1,100lb bags in the rear in place of the pro ballast and plumb and 600lb underbow bag in up front. I also moved my 700lbs of lead over to the GS, putting 500lbs midship and 200lbs in the nose. After that the goofy wave cleaned up considerably and the regular wave is now as long as the 230 with a better shape. It’s still a work in progress but I know there’s so little information about surfing this boat so I wanted to share where I was at with it.

I also know this isn’t for everyone, especially if you like lots of storage. I personally don’t. My boat is a marina boat so we carry what we need for that day and that’s it. And personally my wife and I have always been kind of minimalists when it comes to packing for the lake. Is it a G wave? No. The GS24 is it’s own thing from a size and shape perspective. It certainly shares some similarities. That basic NSS-produced shape is certainly there but the geometry is a little different due to the differences in hull shape and the GS24 adopting the 4” NSS plated a little early. All I have right now is a goofy wave shot from my old 230 (top) and my new GS24 (below). It’s as side by side as I can get but I’m sitting further away from the wave in the GS. I’ll try to get some more shots as I tweak further. Also, if you have any other questions about the GS24 feel free to ask me.

[ScooterMcgavin]

Thanks for sharing some info on the GS24, congratulations on the new boat! Definitely looking forward to see you getting this wave dialed in.There has not been much information posted on this boat, hull or wave. From what I have seen in videos it does look like it can produce a really nice wave with this boat. What lake depth were you running in? Definitely looks like something is off on the GS24 wave pic. Make sure water doesn’t flow over the NSS plates, Good luck and keep us posted here. Let’s see some pics of the boat too!

[hal2814]

Lake depth was fine. It was 25-45ft the whole time. The goofy wave definitely still has some cleaning up to do. Push and length are spot on. Since that pic we started experimenting with letting up some weight in the rear and that helped but it’s still not completely clean up front. I haven’t gotten too into it yet since we’ve been fighting 15-20mph wind all week. My philosophy is always sink it first then let up until it’s good. Regular wave is where I want it for now so I’ll tweak it after I get goofy dialed in.

[hal2814]

Ok. I’m back with an update. I’ve been fighting wind in DFW all May and it looks like I may be fighting rain all June. No pics right now. I’ll try to upload some later when I’m on my computer. This is my current setup:
-6.0l 400hp PCM
-Factory Ballast
-Factory pro rear ballast with factory bags replaced with 1,100lb bags
-650lb underbow bag piggybacked up front
-700lbs of lead midship, biased 300lbs port and 400lbs starboard. I may play with this in coming weeks.
-ACME 2419 prop replacing the factory ACME 1235

I fill everything to 100% on the computer. Then I keep hitting fill in the rears until the rear bags are completely full. The way these are plumbed with pro ballast, water fill come out the vents before the extra bags are full. I open the compartments and look. Or you can look at the swim deck. It’ll be just barely submerged in the water. 100% does not fill the belly underbow bag. These days I leave it empty. The bow is way too easy to dunk with 600lbs additional up front. More on when I do use it in a minute.

What you see me set for regular and goofy wave is based on doing the above first. If you don’t set everything up right first, you’ll get inconsistent results. 1/4 of my crew up to 3-4 people sit in the bow. If none of the crew wants to sit in the bow that’s the only time I add piggyback weight up front and I’m pretty conservative about how much. You’ll know when it’s right because the wave will suddenly stretch like a limousine. Don’t get greedy. Stop there.

Regular wave:
set up like above with no changes. 11.5-11.7mph wave shape at 2-5. When running this much weight 4 is not a skim style wave. It’s pretty steep and long. You can go higher but you’ll have to increase your speed to avoid wash. I don’t think there’s anything you can do to cleanup the wave at 8-10. There’s still some decent adjustment between 0-5. I personally run at 4.

Goofy wave:
Use set level to set ballast to 70% port. It’s not really 70% due to the extra bags. You could use ballast shift but in my experience it does weird things sometimes when you go back and forth a lot. At the end of the day we had less ballast overall on both sides when we used ballast shift. Speed again at 11.5mph. We set wave at 2-4 here. 5 was a little too much. You can see the picture from my original post the biggest thing you’re fighting here is a tendency to wash up front. 70% seems to take care of the wash. You can probably go a little more aggressive if you want there.

Running this way has some very real cons. The setup above isn’t possible using the ACME 1235. It’ll never get up to speed without a lot of nose weight. Then the bow has a tendency to dunk super easily. It also won’t run that way with a decent sized crew even with bow weight. Once you upgrade prop, you lose top end. With the 2419 I’m running about 5k rpm at 35mph. You may be able to get away with a less aggressive prop if you slalom a lot of slalom over 30mph regularly. I don’t think you can barefoot and surf with the above settings. Something has to give.

This is my current setup. I get a longer and larger wave than I did on my 230. I have a longer wave with slightly less lip than the 2nd gen G23 I’ve been riding in. Personally, I’m very happy with the GS24 as a surf-first boat and as an upgrade to my aging 230. I’ll probably still tweak things as time goes on and I hope other GS24 owners also post what they’re doing to set up their boats.

[GWS]

Hal2814 - would you mind sharing which brand after market ballast you used for the rear and underbow sacs? I have a 2018 GS24 and looking to improve my wake as well

[hal2814]

I used the Ronix eight.3 1100lb bags in the rear. I personally like the trapezoid shape as it does a slightly better job of keeping weight off the side panels. Up front I used the fatsac pro x series 650lb bag.