Centurion Announces new Quick Surf System

[Ewok]

Just re-read my post and I guess I didn't fully explore the continence of the level system in the first point. Point to Duncan, it's a major selling point on the quick switch systems.

[duffymahoney]

I could care less about switching sides, but the ease of filling the boat mostly level and have a good-great wave has my interest peaked. I bet lots of aftermarket systems will be out soon. Suprised there isn't any yet.

[Dandy]

I will try to make this my last "chime in". If the AVX is for real, I wonder how it would work out for Tige to split the AVX and have each side operate as a separate unit? Maybe it could be used to shape/clean the wave when listed or weigh even and use one side deployed to create delayed convergence. This would then provide the best of both worlds if you will.

[Ewok]

Seems like a logical evolution of the concept, especially with MC and now centurion able to use big trim tabs to list the boat underway. I still think these surf systems are a fascinating evolution of the sport and excited to see what comes out next, from boat manufacturers and aftermarket vendors.

[Ewok]

Centurion Announces new Quick Surf System

Also, never say this is my last chime in on a thread. It's like saying lets make this the last ski run, it rarely works out well.

[BLucas86]

My 2 cents on the new release....

They shouldn't have used the word "quick" in their system name, because if you look closely, it looks like they pulled this out of their A$$ "quickly" and bolted it on to keep up. They are falling back on everything they have marketed HARD the last few years (CATS/ RAMFILL) and now it looks like those weren't good enough and they are having to follow every other manufacturer with some plate that looks like it will just fall off after a few runs. MC's Gen 2 and NSS are the only truly cleanly mounted systems out there IMO. The rest look like they will give you a few stitches when walking/swimming by.

As someone who just purchased an AVX boat, i have no regrets at all. 7-10* list is nothing, and at a whole 11mph i have not felt "unsafe" yet, and my wife is a blonde and she can navigate just fine too when fully weighted.

Ballast swap time isn't much, since we are running 100% full on surf side, and almost 50% on non surf side, this only leaving 50% to "swap".

I hope Tige does not choose to go this route in the future. AVX is working great, looks excellent and well thought out, and their marketing behind VX and now AVX has been a major selling point, and should continue to. To compromise the quality of the surf wave to be able to transfer quickly seems ridiculous. I hope its just a fad......

[SBM1234]

It seems the boat manufactures are catering to the wallys, one could say that "surf systems" have been designed with wallys in mind. Let's face it, surfing is one of the easier water sports to learn and it's easy on the body. The popularity of it has soared and so it makes sense to develop a product like the "quick gen II surfgate tab nautique" that will increase your boat sales.

At the end of the day, non-wallys will list the boat, even non-wallys who buy boats with surf systems will end up listing the boat in pursuit of the perfect wave - maybe not when its just him and his wife, but definitely when his buddies are out with him.

I think the next evolution is going to be having a clean surf wake on both sides. If I were a boat manufacturer, that is where I would be spending my R&D dollars.

[JohnnieMo]

A major thing people seem to forget about the Tige boats is that they use less fuel because they are working with the water and not against it. Smooth contoured surfaces make a big, clean wave. I like the simplicity of it. Tige designs an entire boat to be good at surfing. It seems like others are just adding on to what they already market.

Sticking a plate into on-coming water is about the worst thing you could do for efficiency. I get that the boat costs a fortune and "whats a few hundred more" but it matters to me.

I do hope and expect Tige to develop something to help with switching, but I hope it isn't a gimmick.

As for Centurion, I thought the Ramfill was one of the best ideas since ballasting became the thing to do. Fill and drain in seconds. It just makes sense. Good design.

[cpropes2005]

I think somebody already pointed this out but you only gain capability and don't give up anything by having a boat with a quick switch system. You gain the ability to have a level boat and switch quickly but if you really want to list your boat then you can do that too and only use the convenience of the switch system when you have kids or other folks who dont care as much about the wave with you. Win win. The "we don't need one" argument sound a lot like the "we don't need ballast" marketing from a few years back and now half of the threads on here are about how to fill every possible nook and cranny of our boats with ballast.

[SBM1234]

It's hard to say whether or not capability is lost when a side switching apparatus is added. What if the wave turns to crap because the surftabgatesystem II makes a dirty wake on a listed boat? In essence, you are trading performance for convenience and the ability to do transfers.

[supremedevice]

I would bet Tige is working on something like this, probably frantically now that Centurion released this. It's only a matter of time now the way I see it, they are literally losing sales as we speak. As nice as AVX is for surf enthusiasts, they are in a business to sell boats and sales are what matter.

As for me, I'll be listing until I come across some more money

[IDBoating]

I'll chime in here. I see Tige having two options.

1) They can frantically work on simply copying what everyone else is doing. There is a lot of merit in this option; they get to leverage off the advertising that all the other manufacturers are doing. Everyone else is spending money educating the marketplace that such systems are desirable, and doing the same thing means Tige and its dealers don't have to "diseducate" and "reeducate" buyers to want something different. There is also risk/cost going this way, not the least of which is that Malibu already has two issued patents covering "gate" systems and they are already suing Nautique over it. Tige would have to either license from Malibu (which presumes Malibu is even willing to license), or come up with an approach different enough to evade patent infringement.

2) They can "take the high road" and do something entirely different, and market it as the superior solution. For example, something based on AVX that is demonstrably different than any sort of "gate", thus avoiding patent issues with other manufacturers. The downside here is that a split, articulated AVX (for example) will still list the hull; it will switch quickly but not minimize hull tilt, which is important to some people.

Tige has always marketed themselves as the "technically different and superior" brand with their Convex V + TAPS system, etc. They could do the same here if they don't just want to be another copycat. But everything is a tradeoff.

(I have some strong opinions on this topic, particularly because I have spent the last 2+ years working on a project that directly addresses this question. I will be able to talk more about that soon, but wanted to weigh in as much as I safely can right now.)

[007]

It is nice to see these boats evolve, and we should all be thankful and geek out a little every time a manufacturer tries to raise the bar.

I have no idea how Tige's sales are affected by all of these surf systems. I'm biased because I just invested in a new Tige. Did the homework I could and still went with a listed boat biased on Tige's surf wave reputation, researching other surf systems and getting a ride behind a buddies Z3 with Wake 9 sacks. I bet a decent amount of would be inboard buyers are ok with a listed boat, especially if they owned something prior that was not an inboard and had to list the hell out of it and run in circles to get an ok wave.

Centurion's entry absolutely looks rushed. Lets hope Tige doesn't do the same. AVX does some cool wave shaping. I only had about 4 weekends to play with it before the cold hit, there are still things for me to learn about it. It would be awesome if my boat switched faster (if not instantly), but as others have said we kill plenty of time changing boards, getting the rider ready etc.

[Palle Man]

I am definitely with Johnniemo on this one. Dragging something like this in the water sounds like extra fuel consumption and also extra stress on the engine and transmission. I realize that these boats are designed for it, but it just seems like something else to break and ruin your day at the lake, as if we don't have enough of those things already. I was very sceptical of Tige boats at first, having only been around them in the 90's, but they have proven to me that they are a solid boat manufacturer.

[st68]

I have a few thoughts too!! I am one who changed from my 3rd Tige to a G23 this past year.... and I have learned to not knock until you try it. If you have tried and don't like it... then fine but if you have never tried it then I would be slow to knock it. I find several knock it but have not tried it... I will say I will not go back to a listed boat for many reasons... and I am still a Tige fan, like what they do a lot. Heck for that matter I am a fan of being able to own a boat period, it is a blessing to do so. I am not an engineer but all the surf system are fairly similar... they basically displace water one way or the other... there is obviously a correlation to this since they are all doing similar things. Tige will clearly have a water displacing system beyond AVX... and I am certain it will be sooner than later. Like others have said it is nice to have the option to ride level or list. I have not tried to list my G23 yet but planning on toying with it for the heck of it!! A guy here is working with a local company custom fitting surf plates to his 07 22Ve... on the 3rd round of tweaking... will be interesting to see how the results work out and I am sure "jbort" will share once they get it right.