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GSA install?


bovhica

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On 3/28/2019 at 3:40 PM, bovhica said:

Update:

Picked up the boat from the dealer yesterday.  GSA installed!  Dealer did a great job and installer was in contact with Ryan from GSA about hull and boat specific details.  It was his first GSA install so I was a bit nervous, but  he went above and beyond making sure everything was right.  The tabs max deploy to 8* and retract almost touching the swim step.  They had to notch out a portion of the hinge to keep it above the bottom of the hull where the bump out for the swim step bracket is located.  Im going to water test it Saturday.

 

 

Those pics look like a great install. you definitely want it tight up against the swim platform like that.

 

I would never advise anyone to use the template... just get the tab up against the swim step/bracket, give yourself 1/2" clearance, mount the actuator in the hole that gives the most travel, then mark wherever the actuator hits the hull in the fully retracted position. Test to make sure you can get 8-10* with the actuator extended while in that position, and mount it up.

 

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13 minutes ago, TimbrSS said:

 

Those pics look like a great install. you definitely want it tight up against the swim platform like that.

 

I would never advise anyone to use the template... just get the tab up against the swim step/bracket, give yourself 1/2" clearance, mount the actuator in the hole that gives the most travel, then mark wherever the actuator hits the hull in the fully retracted position. Test to make sure you can get 8-10* with the actuator extended while in that position, and mount it up.

 

I think you need to rewrite their instructions!  That sounds so much simpler than the videos and docs.  I had the dealer do the install because I was afraid I would have done something wrong.  Your way may have given me confidence to do it myself.  

Either way, I'm excited to get it dialed in!

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I had read that the tabs will fully deploy each time you reset them and you would have to use the dial to adjust tab up to the angle of your preference.  That must have been the case for the older control.  The newer control deploys the tabs to the current setting on the dial when you push the button, so if you find your preferred setting, you can just leave the dial there and that is where the tab will deploy to by default.  I just verified this with my control.  The newer control (e61) also has an app for apple devices that allows you to control the GSA from your iphone.  No android app yet....grrrr, but i grabbed my old iphone 6, downloaded the app and it works great!  Connection to device is bluetooth.

15539065858854862351602291126391.thumb.jpg.b9c4c6c072da2e201d5c1737dee3fb28.jpg

Edited by bovhica
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12 hours ago, bovhica said:

I had read that the tabs will fully deploy each time you reset them and you would have to use the dial to adjust tab up to the angle of your preference.  That must have been the case for the older control.  The newer control deploys the tabs to the current setting on the dial when you push the button, so if you find your preferred setting, you can just leave the dial there and that is where the tab will deploy to by default.  I just verified this with my control.  The newer control (e61) also has an app for apple devices that allows you to control the GSA from your iphone.  No android app yet....grrrr, but i grabbed my old iphone 6, downloaded the app and it works great!  Connection to device is bluetooth.

15539065858854862351602291126391.thumb.jpg.b9c4c6c072da2e201d5c1737dee3fb28.jpg

That's pretty slick 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/13/2019 at 1:22 PM, kerpluxal said:

 

Almost ;)   2300 rear up to 1000 front. will show pic and she is not nude lol

20180729_141556_zps0kharkyn.jpg

Pretty much down to rub rails

you cant miss Maria LOL she rips boardsports period.. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Had a larger crew out yesterday and we were blown away with wave shape, height, length and push at the back of the wave.  My average size riders were riding the pocket about 15 ft back and recovering from the wash approx. 20 ft back on skim boards! The fat guys like me, lol, were on the brakes way back in the curl! I had to adjust my normal stance back a bit on the board to get off the brakes.  Wave on port side had that curl and lip I've always been envious of on the goofy side! GSA, Imho, is superior in every way to the suckgate we ran last season. We used the same ballast setup from my last post except the front bag was only half full and under seat, 100 lbs lead under each bag in the rear rather than 150 and 300 lbs lead in walkway unless passengers sat in bow, then it was moved into cabin on floor in front of rear seats.  GSA was dialed to surf setting.  The bow had slightly more rise than before, in turn, fuel efficiency was a bit down, but wave went from solid to great!  Most riders preferred this setup.  A couple less experienced riders preferred the GSA set to skim for more mellow transition and height, which brought the bow down a bit.  I love being able to make these adjustments at the push of a button!

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
6 hours ago, 95echelon said:

How much of an improvement over suck gates would you say this is? Just spitballing...

Most noticable difference is the increased push at the back of the wave, which creates a larger pocket.  I've gained back bow seating because GSA requires more weight to the rear and less up front, so no more bow bag for us.  I do have some lead bags that I will throw up there if I need a little extra weight up front in addition to under seat ballast. I have the floating wedge, so having the ability to adjust the height and length of the wave with tabs similar to the power wedge without moving ballast is great for fine tuning the wave on the fly.  The price tag is steep, but I wanted an automated surf system.  So it was either upgrade to a newer boat or GSA.  Very happy we decided on GSA!

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8 hours ago, bovhica said:

Most noticable difference is the increased push at the back of the wave, which creates a larger pocket.  I've gained back bow seating because GSA requires more weight to the rear and less up front, so no more bow bag for us.  I do have some lead bags that I will throw up there if I need a little extra weight up front in addition to under seat ballast. I have the floating wedge, so having the ability to adjust the height and length of the wave with tabs similar to the power wedge without moving ballast is great for fine tuning the wave on the fly.  The price tag is steep, but I wanted an automated surf system.  So it was either upgrade to a newer boat or GSA.  Very happy we decided on GSA!

Thanks that is very helpful! Man I hope the price get's nearer to 3k one of these days :)

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17 minutes ago, 95echelon said:

Thanks that is very helpful! Man I hope the price get's nearer to 3k one of these days :)

Wakemakers used to have a TMC discount if you are a member here and they discount only the typical shopping holidays as well. I think I got 10% off....

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16 minutes ago, jcon44 said:

Wakemakers used to have a TMC discount if you are a member here and they discount only the typical shopping holidays as well. I think I got 10% off....

I checked with them a year ago and they honor the discount on GSA. I keep putting the $ into my lake house instead. Two years ago I redid the well, plumbing and bathroom. This year I did a 26 foot deck. Since I am the primary surfer the projects end up getting hours of daily use vs my occasional surfing.

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5 minutes ago, 95echelon said:

I checked with them a year ago and they honor the discount on GSA. I keep putting the $ into my lake house instead. Two years ago I redid the well, plumbing and bathroom. This year I did a 26 foot deck. Since I am the primary surfer the projects end up getting hours of daily use vs my occasional surfing.

I hear ya, there's always something more practical to spend $ on......

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Check the infinitywake system.  Looks to be the same type of system, for a lot less $$.  I've read great things about them, but haven't tried them myself.

I'm curious, what are the measurements of the GSA and the InfinityWake tabs?  Are they about the same size?

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9 hours ago, 95echelon said:

I checked with them a year ago and they honor the discount on GSA. I keep putting the $ into my lake house instead. Two years ago I redid the well, plumbing and bathroom. This year I did a 26 foot deck. Since I am the primary surfer the projects end up getting hours of daily use vs my occasional surfing.

FYI.....I think that may have changed.  They didn't give the discount when I asked about it.  I purchased this Feb. and the rep said they couldn't apply it to GSA.  Then a group buy was done in March with the discount...wish I would have known that was happening.  They also usually have a black Friday sale.

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On 6/21/2019 at 7:04 PM, bovhica said:

FYI.....I think that may have changed.  They didn't give the discount when I asked about it.  I purchased this Feb. and the rep said they couldn't apply it to GSA.  Then a group buy was done in March with the discount...wish I would have known that was happening.  They also usually have a black Friday sale.

Do you remember the group buy price?

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  • 1 month later...

I didn't pull the trigger on the gsa last year, and this thread has made me regret it.  Thanks for all the info.  I have the same hull on my 06 vlx with the bow hard tank so your write-up was really insightful.  

Is it best to order directly from GSA or through Wakemakers?  Does Wakemakers use a different controller?

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2 hours ago, MileHighVLX said:

I didn't pull the trigger on the gsa last year, and this thread has made me regret it.  Thanks for all the info.  I have the same hull on my 06 vlx with the bow hard tank so your write-up was really insightful.  

Is it best to order directly from GSA or through Wakemakers?  Does Wakemakers use a different controller?

The controller is the same.  It has just been upgraded since the first gen. product.  I ordered through Wakemakers and had my local dealer do the install. and IIRC, you can only order through GSA if they do the install.  Their shop is located in Texas.  Wakemakers is the exclusive dealer for GSA, so you get the same exact kit.  Ryan at GSA walked my dealer through proper install.  It turned out great!  I dont have the bow hard tank, but I modified my bow seat base and have a plumbed bag under  bow seat.  I'd guess it fills to between 350 and 400 lbs, so pretty close to your hard tank.  I also have 100 lbs lead stashed in the nose.  We no longer run the bag on the seats which is nice for crew seating options.  I have another 100 lbs lead under each 750 bag in the rear compartments and 200 lbs lead to move around the cabin or throw in the bow depending on crew and where they want to sit.  Once dialed in for the day, It's real nice to be able to adjust the GSA settings and allow people to sit where they want.  If my wife and her friend want to move to the bow, I can turn the dial to surf to adjust for their weight shifting to the front.  If everyone wants to sit in the cabin, I can dial to skim.  Or I can throw some lead around.  Either way it's more convenient for driver and passengers.  Dont know how we lived without it!

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On 6/21/2019 at 12:07 PM, mrothwell said:

Check the infinitywake system.  Looks to be the same type of system, for a lot less $$.  I've read great things about them, but haven't tried them myself.

I'm curious, what are the measurements of the GSA and the InfinityWake tabs?  Are they about the same size?

I installed the InfinityWave surf tabs on my boat, they work awesome and are half the price of the GSA. However, its not tied to your GPS and have buttons to manually adjust the tabs up/down rather than push button "surf left/right". I still love them and awesome wave. My buddy has GSA on his 247, works awesome.

The GSA tabs are more narrow and longer, the InfinityWave tabs are not quite as long but are wider.

https://www.infinitywave.net/

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Hello everyone.

I'm new to the forum, but have been surfing for quite a while. It is obvious about the benefit of convenience to go with GSA... but for me, it is all about the wave.

My usual setup is as follows:

2005 23LSV

Stock Ballast plus 1000 in rear lockers

3x150 seat sacks that i use as needed... generally in the back corner on seats on the surf side... most of the time just 2 of them.

Usually 4 of us surfing... 3 in the boat... the wives are 110 lbs... and the boys are double that.

Manual wedge in down position for regular... and often i pull it up for goofy as it makes the wave quite steep.

We have the Wicked Wake Surf attachment... the one that straps to your swim grid through the tie-downs. It puts out a great wave.

 

My dilemma is as follows... that I WANT the convenience of an automated system... but i dont want to sacrifice wave size/quality. Can anyone on here compare the wave of WW vs GSA? This is the only thing stopping me from making the GSA investment.

 

Looking forward to your feedback.

sixfyv

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Here's a video of the wave we have... not sure why the video is such poor quality... I promise I didn't record it on a potato.

It is quite a long wave... and very clean... lots of push. I am very happy with it. Our boat only has 350 hours on it so I can't justify replacing it for the huge upgrade cost. But $4k for GSA is palatable.

Does anyone have experience with both WW and GSA?

Much appreciated, thanks.

Edited by sixfyv
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35 minutes ago, sixfyv said:

Hello everyone.

I'm new to the forum, but have been surfing for quite a while. It is obvious about the benefit of convenience to go with GSA... but for me, it is all about the wave.

My usual setup is as follows:

2005 23LSV

Stock Ballast plus 1000 in rear lockers

3x150 seat sacks that i use as needed... generally in the back corner on seats on the surf side... most of the time just 2 of them.

Usually 4 of us surfing... 3 in the boat... the wives are 110 lbs... and the boys are double that.

Manual wedge in down position for regular... and often i pull it up for goofy as it makes the wave quite steep.

We have the Wicked Wake Surf attachment... the one that straps to your swim grid through the tie-downs. It puts out a great wave.

 

My dilemma is as follows... that I WANT the convenience of an automated system... but i dont want to sacrifice wave size/quality. Can anyone on here compare the wave of WW vs GSA? This is the only thing stopping me from making the GSA investment.

 

Looking forward to your feedback.

sixfyv

On my boat (08 vlx hull, 21.5) I can create similar wave to the suckgate with GSA but wave has more push at the back of the wave which lengthened our pocket vs. a suckgate.  I can shape the wave on the fly without having to drain  and fill ballast.  I dont have a power wedge so this ability is huge for us. GSA requires more weight in the rear and less up front due to some lift from the tabs,  so I dont use a bow bag on top of seat anymore.  Lift also helps to get up to speed and I'm getting better fuel economy.  People can sit where they want for the most part and you can quickly get dialed in for the day, then adjust the dial as needed as people move from cabin to bow or vice versa.  @kerpluxal has been using GSA longer than I, and may have more insight, especially for your hull and boat length.

Edit:  I was also very happy with our wave before GSA.  I wanted automation and ability to adjust on the fly.  Both boxes checked plus many unexpected bonuses like more push, bow rise down, fuel economy...etc.  very happy and glad I went GSA vs new boat purchase.

Edited by bovhica
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