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Official O'Brien Blog Post:
Detroit, MI (August 9, 2016) - When you think of the term heritage as it pertains to watersports and more importantly those individuals and companies at the forefront of the sport, Nautique is one of the first manufacturers to come to mind. We spent Friday evening at the GM Heritage Center in Detroit, Michigan attending Nautique’s GS20 launch event. With GM’s profound heritage in the automotive industry, it’s Heritage Center, or time capsule as we continuously referred to it, made for the perfect setting to showcase Nautique’s latest marine innovation alongside so many auto innovations from our past.
At precisely 7:30 the event got underway. After a brief yet insightful introduction from the legendary Shaun Murray, Adam Wensink took to the stage, walking us through the GS20 and all it’s features. You can find detailed information about the GS20’sspecific features and how they perform over on Nautique.com but we’re going to focus on the three reasons we feel you’ll be seeing a quite a few of these boats on the water this Fall and next Summer.
Size: The GS20 measures 20′ in length. That’s a no brainer, but what we were thrilled to learn is that it’s 100″ beam and 4,500lbs of dry weight will make it a breeze to tow behind most mid size SUV’s and light trucks. A feature we were even more stoked to learn of is the GS20’s height. Gone are the days of deflating tires and jockeying boards around to get your boat under the garage door. With the tower folded down (a single person can effortlessly accomplish this by the way) the GS20 measures 6’6″ at it’s tallest point, giving you plenty of room to fit under a standard 7′ garage door.
Storage: Besides making great wakes, perhaps the most stand-out feature the G series of boats is storage, thanks to ample sub-floor ballast The GS20 keeps with this tradition by offering 1,850 pounds of ballast sub-floor, leaving room to store wakeboards, waterskis, wakesurfers, floats, and whatever else you can think of under the seats and rear lockers.
Versatility: Depending what engine package you choose, 355, 409 or 450 horsepower will shape a wake for whatever you’re in the mood for on any given day. Fill the ballast for a wakeboarding set in the morning, when the water gets blown out activate NSS and wakesurf the day away. Then drain the ballast and cap the evening off with a slalom or barefoot set. Typically when you hear “G” you don’t dare think watersking. Nautique is changing this perception thanks to the GS20’s variable running surface. Nautique developed a rear wake gate that does double duty; when fully loaded it helps get the boat on plane quicker and when unweighted at slalom speeds it pitches the blow, altering the running surface, and produces a wake perfect for freeskiing or mellow 32 off runs.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stick around the following day for an on-water demo, but as soon as the demo boat’s done with it’s dealership tour we’ll have it on the water for a real world test. Check out some photos of Nautique’s GS20 among some of the unique cars of GM’s Heritage Center below.
Detroit, MI (August 9, 2016) - When you think of the term heritage as it pertains to watersports and more importantly those individuals and companies at the forefront of the sport, Nautique is one of the first manufacturers to come to mind. We spent Friday evening at the GM Heritage Center in Detroit, Michigan attending Nautique’s GS20 launch event. With GM’s profound heritage in the automotive industry, it’s Heritage Center, or time capsule as we continuously referred to it, made for the perfect setting to showcase Nautique’s latest marine innovation alongside so many auto innovations from our past.At precisely 7:30 the event got underway. After a brief yet insightful introduction from the legendary Shaun Murray, Adam Wensink took to the stage, walking us through the GS20 and all it’s features. You can find detailed information about the GS20’sspecific features and how they perform over on Nautique.com but we’re going to focus on the three reasons we feel you’ll be seeing a quite a few of these boats on the water this Fall and next Summer.
Size: The GS20 measures 20′ in length. That’s a no brainer, but what we were thrilled to learn is that it’s 100″ beam and 4,500lbs of dry weight will make it a breeze to tow behind most mid size SUV’s and light trucks. A feature we were even more stoked to learn of is the GS20’s height. Gone are the days of deflating tires and jockeying boards around to get your boat under the garage door. With the tower folded down (a single person can effortlessly accomplish this by the way) the GS20 measures 6’6″ at it’s tallest point, giving you plenty of room to fit under a standard 7′ garage door.
Storage: Besides making great wakes, perhaps the most stand-out feature the G series of boats is storage, thanks to ample sub-floor ballast The GS20 keeps with this tradition by offering 1,850 pounds of ballast sub-floor, leaving room to store wakeboards, waterskis, wakesurfers, floats, and whatever else you can think of under the seats and rear lockers.
Versatility: Depending what engine package you choose, 355, 409 or 450 horsepower will shape a wake for whatever you’re in the mood for on any given day. Fill the ballast for a wakeboarding set in the morning, when the water gets blown out activate NSS and wakesurf the day away. Then drain the ballast and cap the evening off with a slalom or barefoot set. Typically when you hear “G” you don’t dare think watersking. Nautique is changing this perception thanks to the GS20’s variable running surface. Nautique developed a rear wake gate that does double duty; when fully loaded it helps get the boat on plane quicker and when unweighted at slalom speeds it pitches the blow, altering the running surface, and produces a wake perfect for freeskiing or mellow 32 off runs.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stick around the following day for an on-water demo, but as soon as the demo boat’s done with it’s dealership tour we’ll have it on the water for a real world test. Check out some photos of Nautique’s GS20 among some of the unique cars of GM’s Heritage Center below.
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