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'10-'12 VLX hull with GSA/Wave Control - anyone have it??


Sporte77

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I've searched the forums here and it looks like most people with GSA/wave control have either older hulls (pre 2010) - or larger hulls (22-24')  than mine.

Has anyone installed the wave control system on a 21' VLX in the later models (2010-2012 pre-surf gate) that can tell me if its worth it?  I've built the suck gates that work great - but I've got one son & friends that are goofy.  Also, I'd like to practice crossing over.  Malibu's pricing on a newer VLX has gone through the roof and I just can't pull the trigger.  Sounds like those with the older hulls and longer hulls guys like it.  But not much out there on the 21'.  Please give me opinions and pics if you can. 

Thanks,

Sam

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All I can tell you is the wavecontrol doesn't work fast enough on my boat to do transfers.  I have an MB sports so I can't speak to your hull, but if the boat didn't come with it, I would have stuck to a suck gate, not worth the $$ to me.  You could build actuators & make an actual surf gate on your boat cheaper than what wavecontrol is going to cost.  Just .02

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/21/2017 at 8:12 AM, racer808 said:

All I can tell you is the wavecontrol doesn't work fast enough on my boat to do transfers.  I have an MB sports so I can't speak to your hull, but if the boat didn't come with it, I would have stuck to a suck gate, not worth the $$ to me.  You could build actuators & make an actual surf gate on your boat cheaper than what wavecontrol is going to cost.  Just .02

That's weird, cause transfers are great on my 247 w/WaveControl. I never really thought I'd care about transfers, but my crew just started doing them randomly one day last week and we had a total blast.

I can't say weather GSA type system would be good or not on a shorter boat, but I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be.  as Wakemakers, Malibu crew supporters get 10% off, or you could wait to see if they have a big Labor Day or Black Friday sale.

Edited by TimbrSS
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call ryan at gosurfassist and he might be able to point you to some owners that have and maybe one in your area that you could demo. I can't attest to a 21' install, but my 23 is awesome. I bought it specifically for doing transfers and it is quick for them. It is also nice for when your crew is not goofy (goofy crews are the best :yahoo:) for switching back and forth between riders, 

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On 8/22/2017 at 10:58 AM, Sporte77 said:

Bump... On the verge of buying a newer boat.

Not too far from buying a newer boat myself. Debated all winter if it was worth adding $4k to my 2010 VLX or not. I still haven't decided, lol!

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2 hours ago, kerpluxal said:

If you want to buy or need to convince a person to buy a new boat for the surf system then stay away from gsa... You will like it so much that you will not want to sell your boat or you can't convince your significant to upgrade to new boat. The gsa system is worth the 4k over new boat (unless you want the new boat ;) )

This!

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18 hours ago, jwl019 said:

Not too far from buying a newer boat myself. Debated all winter if it was worth adding $4k to my 2010 VLX or not. I still haven't decided, lol!

I'm in the same "boat" ... ha.  My MTC screen just went out.  Mine's a 2012 & the upholstery is starting to separate.  My last MB didn't do that until it got to the 8 year mark.  I take really good care of it.  I've been in the Nautique GS22 & the 2017 VLX22 - but neither really seems worth the extra $40-50k over what mine is worth.  Plus, I've heard even the new ones have had screen issues.  Although the upholstery seems more solid.  The GSA/WaveControl is very tempting.  If only it were half that price.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...

I also would like to know if someone has installed GSA on a 2010-12 VLX and what they think of it. Debating whether to make surf gates or install GSA. Any info is appreciated. 
Thanks

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Check out InfinityWave Mfg surf tab system. They installed it on an older Malibu when they were designing/testing, I believe it was a 2006 VLX. I cant imagine that it would not work excellent, my buddy has a 2009 VLX and it puts out an excellent wave with the mission suck gate and he is looking to add the InfinityWave surf tabs next year. I installed them on my 2014 SV244 early this spring and am super impressed. Size of the wave with surf tabs vs the Nauticurl suck gate did not change much (didnt expect that it would, was mostly looking for the convenience/ease of use) but I can certainly feel better push at the back of the wave since the water is flowing off the bottom of the boat/tab and is directed at the surf wave. Also the rpm's came down 200+rpm since it doesnt have the side resistance of the suck gate working against you.

The InfinityWave tabs are half the price of GSA, just a different style controller where you manually adjust the tabs. Was well worth the money to me and I jumped on it due to price being so reasonable.

https://www.infinitywave.net/

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1 hour ago, Infinitysurf said:

Check out InfinityWave Mfg surf tab system. They installed it on an older Malibu when they were designing/testing, I believe it was a 2006 VLX. I cant imagine that it would not work excellent, my buddy has a 2009 VLX and it puts out an excellent wave with the mission suck gate and he is looking to add the InfinityWave surf tabs next year. I installed them on my 2014 SV244 early this spring and am super impressed. Size of the wave with surf tabs vs the Nauticurl suck gate did not change much (didnt expect that it would, was mostly looking for the convenience/ease of use) but I can certainly feel better push at the back of the wave since the water is flowing off the bottom of the boat/tab and is directed at the surf wave. Also the rpm's came down 200+rpm since it doesnt have the side resistance of the suck gate working against you.

The InfinityWave tabs are half the price of GSA, just a different style controller where you manually adjust the tabs. Was well worth the money to me and I jumped on it due to price being so reasonable.

https://www.infinitywave.net/

If your wave had more push from the back then it must be awesome,  your regular wave with nauticurl was ridiculous and one of the more fun goofy backside surfs I’ve ever done , I was recovering from  22 -23+ feet with no more more than a shuffle rear foot and a couple of pumps 

isn’t the diff to GSA a nicer control panel and more money for GSA?

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On 11/1/2019 at 10:49 AM, granddaddy55 said:

If your wave had more push from the back then it must be awesome,  your regular wave with nauticurl was ridiculous and one of the more fun goofy backside surfs I’ve ever done , I was recovering from  22 -23+ feet with no more more than a shuffle rear foot and a couple of pumps 

isn’t the diff to GSA a nicer control panel and more money for GSA?

Thanks Granddaddy55, that was an awesome week on Lake Norris. I intend to keep my boat for the forseeable future so have done all the mods to keep it in pristine shape so it holds value and I dont get tempted to spend more than I can afford on a new boat, lol.

Yes, GSA is more money but you get a fully automated switch system. I initially didnt like how the GSA would deploy the tab to the furthest setting and there was no way to change that, but sounds like the new systems are more adjustable now in that regard which is nice.

InfinityWave tabs have manual switches (like switches for car windows tho there are other options available) that you raise/lower tabs by pushing/pulling the switches. Some cons to this system since its not simply pushing a button once to "surf left", but personally I like the adjustability and after an hour on the water playing with them its super easy to dial the wave on either side. Also easy to use these surf tabs for "launch" mode, I can plane the boat now if I want fully loaded with ballast, dont do it much but a nice option if you want to drive a short distance to different cove without dumping everything.

I just couldn't justify spending $4k on GSA since the wave was great with the Nauticurl but for $2k I decided to take the plunge and am glad I did. The tabs add push since the wave is coming off the bottom of the boat/tab. I didnt expect the wave to get better over the Nauticurl (even tho it did increase the push), I just wanted the convenience and not having to mess with sticking a suck gate on the sides. I also figure down the road there will be some programmable, automated switch systems available (kindof like GSA has) for a reasonable price that I can install, as more are made the prices should come down....there are 2 available now that I know of for around $1k but if I do that I want a system that is fully programmable so you can set the exact angle of deployment that you want since in some instances it would be nice to have. My boat makes the best surf wave with surf tab deployed at roughly 9 degrees, so it doesn't take a lot!

Edited by Infinitysurf
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On 11/6/2019 at 9:48 AM, Infinitysurf said:

I also figure down the road there will be some programmable, automated switch systems available (kindof like GSA has) for a reasonable price that I can install, as more are made the prices should come down....there are 2 available now that I know of for around $1k but if I do that I want a system that is fully programmable so you can set the exact angle of deployment that you want since in some instances it would be nice to have. My boat makes the best surf wave with surf tab deployed at roughly 9 degrees, so it doesn't take a lot!

There are DIY controller setups now that can do it on the cheap too.  I've considered the Infinity Wave setup a few times but haven't justified it yet, especially since the manual controller they use is a hard no for me.  GSA with a Black Friday sale and/or TMC member discount comes down in price some too.

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I believe that WakeMakers normally does 20% off on Black Friday sale for GSA, that is a nice discount on their system and I don't know of any hulls that it does not work well on if installed correctly. Biggest thing with installing any surf tab is ensuring that when the tab is retracted, it is as high up/close to bottom of swim platform as possible so it doesn't interfere with the wave. Have seen a couple people with GSA and InfinityWave tabs complain about the wave not being right after installing the surf tabs....only to realize that the tab on the surf side was not retracting far enough up to not interfere with the wave and after adjusting them, got the wave they were looking for.

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I'm hearing WakeMakers is offering 15% off GSA for Black Friday this year (we gotta let em make something on it).

A good price if you're waiting to pull the trigger.

 

Anybody done any research about the wave from GSA tabs coming from the bottom of the boat vs surfgate generating from the side?

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1 hour ago, BigE said:

Anybody done any research about the wave from GSA tabs coming from the bottom of the boat vs surfgate generating from the side?

I think on the older hulls, not designed around surf gate the tabs from the bottom are better IMO.  They push the bow down and eliminate the need for tons of weight in the bow, GSA and the like systems actually prefer weigh in the rear.

My opinion and not scientific, I think you would need to have tried both systems on the same boat to get a real answer.

Sounds like the new PW III has solved for this now but is you are looking at adding a surf system its probably to a pre PWIII boat.

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