Hi All
Update you all on my install, and give a review. I will start off by saying, the two people, and companies, that I worked with are top notch and would without hesitation recommend them both. Jason and the team at Germaine really killed it in the customer service area. He made my purchase super easy and convenient, kept me updated throughout the process, and delivered the system to the small airport where I flew in to pick it up. Top notch, and I thank them!
GSA is the other I easily recommend dealing with. GSA advertises a 24 hour tech support, and I would say they lived up to that. Prior to my purchase, I asked an uncomfortable amount of newb questions through GSA's Facebook messenger, then phone calls, and some texts. Never did I have a question unanswered or bad experience. This ease and reliability of communication continued through my complete experience, to include my first outing with the installed system.
Ryan is doing a good job getting videos uploaded at https://www.gosurfassist.com/instruc...ideos-installs . He also gets them uploaded to youtube. I watched them about 10 times each prior to the install, and it helped greatly. I am going to rag on them a bit though, as I think there is room for improvement in a few areas. I am, so far, more than pleased. I will walk through my install, and won't hold back on my good and improve areas. One of the things that attracted me to the GSA system, was the advertised DIY ability. My RZ2 curves added a unique challenge that Ryan himself said can be a little more frustrating than the average boat install, due to our curves.
The install. I do testing and development on helicopter systems, and like to keep things as simple as possible at work. I only say that to give a semi base level of competency when I am giving general opinions, solely expressed by myself. I was told that GSA has around 50 RZ2 installs. I would think that this amount of installs would provide a pretty good, and tested, template for future use by DIY and shops installing GSA on RZ2s. What I mean by that is GSA gives variants on installs. Minimum and maximum distances from the outboard of each side of the hull to the beginning of the GSA plate, and min and maximum hight above the hinge to the upper actuator mount. I would have liked to see or be told an exact measurement of both the hinge for the tab, and the upper actuator mount that is specific to the RZ2 butt. I believe those could be accurately published for use in installs, instead of the 2-6 inch variant for the hull to hinge dimension and 1-1.5 inch hinge to tab (if I remember correctly the variant. Don't take those as reference). I would have liked to see some tabular data for different models that GSA has installed tabs on, referencing the measurements they used on the specific hulls. I may be simplifying this to much, but I think it is more than doable. I will say that Ryan answers calls and texts promptly, and was able to give more specific guidance to me for approximate, or closer, measurements for my RZ2 install. This helped greatly. If it were me, I would document, catalogue and then publish each specific install to alleviate excess calls.
Once I talked with Ryan and narrowed down my measurements, it was time to get to the spacer. My measurements were 4.5 inches inboard, and 1.25 inches above the hinge to the bottom of the upper mount. Do not go off of my measurements, as I am a one hit wonder and only gave them to reference my install. The spacer is needed on the RZ2 to fill in her curves, and be prepared to cut to form it to the hull. I used my router mounted to a table, and then fine tuned with a Dremel. It took a bit of time, but I got it to fit. There are some compound angles, but with time it fit.
Once the spacer was trimmed, the holes for the hinge were drilled. It was pretty straight forward. Inboard 4.5 inches, for me, and level or inline with the bottom of the hull.
Then mounted the hinge per the install video.
Part 2. figuring out where and how to get the provided upper mount to fit and work on my application. With where it needs to go, it has to be modified to fit in the narrow inset between the swim step mount/support and the RZ2s pop out curves. The upper mount needs to be both shaved narrower, as well as ground on the back at an angle to fit. This step was as time consuming as the spacer, and would be alleviated with a different upper mount.
Once those two steps are complete, the install goes back to basically as Ryan describes in his videos, mostly. The tabs have multiple mounting hole options, and if each model was catalogued, you would know what hole/position to use. It is not, so my above measurements coincided with the rear most hole. This set up gave me the closest to what Ryan suggested for the RZ2 travel of 15 degrees down. I was able to get 14.1 degree down, and about 1/4 of an inch from the swim platform brackets.
I then mounted my controller. I chose to mount it next to the engine cut off switch, in front and below the throttle lever. I think it looks good there, and is easily accessible.
Now the system.
I was bit disappointed hearing that the system is to be installed on the battery bus, which is a constant hot line, and only shut off with the battery perko switch. Ryan said this is do to it being a 35 amp system, and more than what the ACC can handle without a relay. I would think an advanced system such as GSA would have an on off switch at either the faceplate or wired inline. Or include the needed relay. I have a 2010 boat, but still cannot manage to think about installing a system on my boat that only turns off at the perko. The system that only turns off at the perko, to me, is the breaker box.
I then took it out on the initial run tonight. I did not start out good. I will say I was fortunate to do my initial run by a marina. I wanted to see the system work in the "launch" mode. This mode was explained to me as a way to have the weighted boat get onto plane, expeditiously, and then have the tabs retract at a safe speed. I initiated launch mode, gave the throttle, and then watched my bow stay low, get on plane, and the GSA system power off. Come to find out, I blew a fuse. I limped to the marina, and bought some over priced fuses. As I said above with Ryan and his customer service, he answered my text in about 15 min. He explained that the launch mode is known to blow fuses and is not needed. I found that weird, but acknowledged, then did not use again.
To start out tonight, I had approximately 3600 lbs of ballast and 550 lb of flesh. I engaged the right button, setting up the goofy wave for my daughter, and immediately new I had something better. I will say the wave initially did not look as clean as what I can set up with leaning the boat, but the way it wrapped around the back side of her and the board and kept her propelled was awesome to see. She could basically not fall back out of the wave. It gave her a confidence, and smile that was worth every nicked knuckle installing the system.
I then added another 800 pounds of fat sack water midship between the trash area, and driver and back. It lengthened the wave, cleaned it up and made it more manipulable with the GSA controller. I was able to steepen it with a sharp lip, and then dial it to a flatter skim style transition.
We then added another fat sac behind the other and next to the rear bench seat to see what it would do. Nothing but smiles.
We played with the steepness of the wave a bit at the end of the night, and realized that it would be great to have a gauge on the system that gave a general idea of the position of the tab. The GSA control head has a rotary dial that goes from a narrow indication to a thick indication, but it does not really have a reference point. I would have like to see an advanced system like this have a selectable setting or position that is easily returned to for an individual rider, a lot like taps. Taps plate 4, surf system 4, ect.
Over all, is it worth almost 4k? From my first night out, I am more than happy with the purchase and the update that keeps us continuing to ride behind our well kept 2010 RZ2. I would, however, like to see minor improvements to the system, such as an on/off switch, position indicator, a usable launch system, and updated install guides, that would be commensurate to a 4k system.
Update you all on my install, and give a review. I will start off by saying, the two people, and companies, that I worked with are top notch and would without hesitation recommend them both. Jason and the team at Germaine really killed it in the customer service area. He made my purchase super easy and convenient, kept me updated throughout the process, and delivered the system to the small airport where I flew in to pick it up. Top notch, and I thank them!
GSA is the other I easily recommend dealing with. GSA advertises a 24 hour tech support, and I would say they lived up to that. Prior to my purchase, I asked an uncomfortable amount of newb questions through GSA's Facebook messenger, then phone calls, and some texts. Never did I have a question unanswered or bad experience. This ease and reliability of communication continued through my complete experience, to include my first outing with the installed system.
Ryan is doing a good job getting videos uploaded at https://www.gosurfassist.com/instruc...ideos-installs . He also gets them uploaded to youtube. I watched them about 10 times each prior to the install, and it helped greatly. I am going to rag on them a bit though, as I think there is room for improvement in a few areas. I am, so far, more than pleased. I will walk through my install, and won't hold back on my good and improve areas. One of the things that attracted me to the GSA system, was the advertised DIY ability. My RZ2 curves added a unique challenge that Ryan himself said can be a little more frustrating than the average boat install, due to our curves.
The install. I do testing and development on helicopter systems, and like to keep things as simple as possible at work. I only say that to give a semi base level of competency when I am giving general opinions, solely expressed by myself. I was told that GSA has around 50 RZ2 installs. I would think that this amount of installs would provide a pretty good, and tested, template for future use by DIY and shops installing GSA on RZ2s. What I mean by that is GSA gives variants on installs. Minimum and maximum distances from the outboard of each side of the hull to the beginning of the GSA plate, and min and maximum hight above the hinge to the upper actuator mount. I would have liked to see or be told an exact measurement of both the hinge for the tab, and the upper actuator mount that is specific to the RZ2 butt. I believe those could be accurately published for use in installs, instead of the 2-6 inch variant for the hull to hinge dimension and 1-1.5 inch hinge to tab (if I remember correctly the variant. Don't take those as reference). I would have liked to see some tabular data for different models that GSA has installed tabs on, referencing the measurements they used on the specific hulls. I may be simplifying this to much, but I think it is more than doable. I will say that Ryan answers calls and texts promptly, and was able to give more specific guidance to me for approximate, or closer, measurements for my RZ2 install. This helped greatly. If it were me, I would document, catalogue and then publish each specific install to alleviate excess calls.
Once I talked with Ryan and narrowed down my measurements, it was time to get to the spacer. My measurements were 4.5 inches inboard, and 1.25 inches above the hinge to the bottom of the upper mount. Do not go off of my measurements, as I am a one hit wonder and only gave them to reference my install. The spacer is needed on the RZ2 to fill in her curves, and be prepared to cut to form it to the hull. I used my router mounted to a table, and then fine tuned with a Dremel. It took a bit of time, but I got it to fit. There are some compound angles, but with time it fit.
Once the spacer was trimmed, the holes for the hinge were drilled. It was pretty straight forward. Inboard 4.5 inches, for me, and level or inline with the bottom of the hull.
Then mounted the hinge per the install video.
Part 2. figuring out where and how to get the provided upper mount to fit and work on my application. With where it needs to go, it has to be modified to fit in the narrow inset between the swim step mount/support and the RZ2s pop out curves. The upper mount needs to be both shaved narrower, as well as ground on the back at an angle to fit. This step was as time consuming as the spacer, and would be alleviated with a different upper mount.
Once those two steps are complete, the install goes back to basically as Ryan describes in his videos, mostly. The tabs have multiple mounting hole options, and if each model was catalogued, you would know what hole/position to use. It is not, so my above measurements coincided with the rear most hole. This set up gave me the closest to what Ryan suggested for the RZ2 travel of 15 degrees down. I was able to get 14.1 degree down, and about 1/4 of an inch from the swim platform brackets.
I then mounted my controller. I chose to mount it next to the engine cut off switch, in front and below the throttle lever. I think it looks good there, and is easily accessible.
Now the system.
I was bit disappointed hearing that the system is to be installed on the battery bus, which is a constant hot line, and only shut off with the battery perko switch. Ryan said this is do to it being a 35 amp system, and more than what the ACC can handle without a relay. I would think an advanced system such as GSA would have an on off switch at either the faceplate or wired inline. Or include the needed relay. I have a 2010 boat, but still cannot manage to think about installing a system on my boat that only turns off at the perko. The system that only turns off at the perko, to me, is the breaker box.
I then took it out on the initial run tonight. I did not start out good. I will say I was fortunate to do my initial run by a marina. I wanted to see the system work in the "launch" mode. This mode was explained to me as a way to have the weighted boat get onto plane, expeditiously, and then have the tabs retract at a safe speed. I initiated launch mode, gave the throttle, and then watched my bow stay low, get on plane, and the GSA system power off. Come to find out, I blew a fuse. I limped to the marina, and bought some over priced fuses. As I said above with Ryan and his customer service, he answered my text in about 15 min. He explained that the launch mode is known to blow fuses and is not needed. I found that weird, but acknowledged, then did not use again.
To start out tonight, I had approximately 3600 lbs of ballast and 550 lb of flesh. I engaged the right button, setting up the goofy wave for my daughter, and immediately new I had something better. I will say the wave initially did not look as clean as what I can set up with leaning the boat, but the way it wrapped around the back side of her and the board and kept her propelled was awesome to see. She could basically not fall back out of the wave. It gave her a confidence, and smile that was worth every nicked knuckle installing the system.
I then added another 800 pounds of fat sack water midship between the trash area, and driver and back. It lengthened the wave, cleaned it up and made it more manipulable with the GSA controller. I was able to steepen it with a sharp lip, and then dial it to a flatter skim style transition.
We then added another fat sac behind the other and next to the rear bench seat to see what it would do. Nothing but smiles.
We played with the steepness of the wave a bit at the end of the night, and realized that it would be great to have a gauge on the system that gave a general idea of the position of the tab. The GSA control head has a rotary dial that goes from a narrow indication to a thick indication, but it does not really have a reference point. I would have like to see an advanced system like this have a selectable setting or position that is easily returned to for an individual rider, a lot like taps. Taps plate 4, surf system 4, ect.
Over all, is it worth almost 4k? From my first night out, I am more than happy with the purchase and the update that keeps us continuing to ride behind our well kept 2010 RZ2. I would, however, like to see minor improvements to the system, such as an on/off switch, position indicator, a usable launch system, and updated install guides, that would be commensurate to a 4k system.
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