Zero Off GPS Cruise control on a river?

Does anyone use GPS cruise control on a river? I was told there is a bypass where you can make it run off the paddle wheel if you want?

Right now the current in the river is a bit stronger and I find we are adjusting the speed by a good one MPH each time we change direction.....

Tyler,
I know Correct Craft had a River Mode option update that allowed the user to switch to the paddle wheel. I wonder if Supra ever got the update? Might be worth looking into.

Thanks Spencer. I spoke to Zero Off and the guy said they don't have anything in place. Hopefully the Boat Manufacturers will push them to do something.

What??? Look at the Zero Off website under Service Bulletins. They have a river mode, where you enter an estimate of the river current speed, and you tap the menu button on your turn arounds.... It adjusts the speed setting up and down each time you tap it to account for the current:

4. A River mode has been added which can be enabled via the MENU/SET submenu. This is intended to address trick/wakeboard concerns about handling river currents. When River Mode is enabled, an estimate of the speed of the current can be entered, and the driver can then add or subtract this speed offset from the baseline speed setpoint (add when riding with the current, subtract while riding against the current) while making his turn with a single push on the SEL button (hold SEL for trick, tap SEL for wakeboard). The intent is to allow the driver a simple single adjustment means of maintaining constant speed over the water with or against currents. This function only operates from the tournament screen where the two additional selectable parameters (river current speed and an UpRiver/DNRiver icon) show up only when this option is enabled.

I ordered my new Malibu VTX without Zero Off because I was concerned about river riding..... Now, I'm having major surging issues with the Malibu speed control, and they're telling me only Zero Off might be able to get to the tollerances I want. I went to the Zero Off site and found this info yesterday. Had I know about this last winter, I might have done Zero Off from the factory....

What the above info doesn't tell you is the download has to be done with an interface cable that IMHO is way overpriced at around $225 last I heard. The local Nautique dealers around here have not bought one to do the downloads, I'm not sure how other dealers/areas are. Since you have to do the work of figuring out what the current speed is, setup that speed everytime you go out, and then still press a button everytime you change direction... Why not just deal with pressing the button a few more times to set the speed manually each time you change directions? If the dealers aren't coughing up the money for this cable, that leaves you to do it and I can't justify such an expense for such a small payoff. Just my $0.02.

Charlie
I called Zero Off and today and they said that the river mode is only for Nautiques and as Jason said you still have to change it every time you change direction and at that point it is just as easy to bump or reduce the speed. I would be looking for something that will bypass the GPS and go to paddle wheel when on the river and then back to GPS on a lake. Someone told me PP Stargazer has this. Not sure if it is true. It is not a big deal, but just on the wish list and worth asking around and creating some buzz.

Hmm, that sucks.... Well, if I end up with Zero Off, hopefully the Malibu speed control will still be able to be used as an option for on the river, and we will deal with the surging.

Tyler,
Hmm. That is what I thought but I was hoping other lines had gotten the update. Don't some comps require the use of a paddle wheel? Have you called Supra?

I have a message in with Zero Off and Matt has a message in with Supra. Like I say it is not a big deal and the river mode for Nautique really isn't any better than just changing the speed manually. I would like to see integration with the paddle wheel.

Who cares diggy, all you do is drink Busch light anyway? Why does it matter when you are sitting on the tower?

Rumor over 1 year ago from PP. Y cable, 1 to the GPS, 1 to the paddle wheel. More info. here:

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/...+river+current

I don't see what the big problem is about riding on a river with gps speed control. Yes if you have a river going 1 mph then you will be going 1 mph too fast in one direction and 1 mph too slow in the other, but it's not a big deal to just bump it up or down a bit. Gps holds a more consistant speed. If it's too fast or too slow just adjust it. If there is a river setting you would have to hit a button anyway. What's the big deal with hitting one button and hitting the same button 2-3 times to change speed. Not like it's a big task.

Sippi- I've been on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and clocked a 3 MPH current on GPS..... That means a 6 MPH swing on up stream vs. down stream. That's a lot of button tapping to adjust your speed if you're going to do it manually...

Sip-If you read his last two posts he says that it's NOT a big deal.......

sippi
I will repeat it is not a big deal at all. I am not looking for a river mode, where I push a button when I change direction. As you said it is no different than just changing the speed with a few bumps. I am looking for an integration to a paddle wheel. My boat has a paddle wheel and not sure why it would have a paddle wheel since it is all GPS based, but who knows. No big deal. Just looking for a perfect world and suggestion to the manufacturers.

Diggs, my post wasn't directed towards you at all, but mainly at what everybody keeps saying about it on a river. SOME people seem to make such a big deal about it like it's this huge inconvenience to adjust the speed a bit. I'd take that over paddlewheel only speed control anyday. That gps stuff is awesome! LOVE your boat by the way!

Its got a GPS. Perhaps the next version should allow you to account automatically based on your heading. Perhaps after that we can tie it into the tide tables for the coastal groups.

I cannot see how people dont think this is a big deal. Its huge. yall just must not care about wake consistency. ill take my paddle wheel over a gps on a river any day. my wheel will hold within a tolerance of .1 mph with a current and those with gps have a tolerance of ~1-3mph (or more depending on the current) and think that gps hold better?!?! crazy...

My understanding is that with gps speed control the speed does "fluctuate". Even in a river. If the river is flowing, the gps will hold a consistant speed, it may be 1-2 mph (depending on current) faster or slower, but it holds the speed consistantly. Which is why all you would have to do is bump it up or down a bit. But it'll still hold speed more consistantly. I have the paddle wheel in mine and so do the majority of my friends, and I can never get the speed to hold +-.1 unless I drive by hand which I do anyway. Even after playin with settings it never fails a hard cut out on the left side and it will slow down then catch up and it will speed up on the right on everyone of mine and my friends boats. The closest I've ever seen one hold was like +-.3-.5 not saying yours doesn't. Just in my experience it's rare to get it that close with the paddle wheel. A buddy of mine who has the zero off it holds right on all the time. Even on the river. We just bump the speed a bit if we need to.

So the issue with paddle wheels is not holding speed in a turn? I'm confused as to how that matters. It's not like the wake is formed in a turn. A river does not have a steady current. Where I ride the current fluctuates during the day from zero current to a good 3mph. The curret is different in a curve and where thee river widens, the curent slows down. So the current is always fluctuating. I have both gps and a paddlewheel my boat so I have seen first hand the issues with the gps. We wes constandly having to muck with it. It was easier to turn off and drive vy wake and rpm. That said I seem to be the only one who wants a consistant pull. I like 23.5 on my boat. 23 is too slow and 24 is too fast. I will admit the boat speeds up in a turn, but I'll take that over having a non consistent speed in the straights any day.

Dizzy - I don't know where you get your information about GPS not holding speed well. Mine holds spead almost exactly at the setting. Once in a while it might be off by 0.1 but even that is rare. And I ride almost exclusively on a river. I simply bump speed up/down depending on if I'm going up or down stream (current is very slow on our local river in the summer). Do you have actual experience with a GPS system or are you just pissing in the wind? If you have actual experience with a GPS guided boat that won't hold to better than 1-2mph, I suggest that owner get it looked at... it might need a new software flash.

With that said, I agree with Diggs. It would be nice to have an option to run off the paddle wheel. My boat has a paddle wheel also. I have no idea why. When I asked AWS why, they weren't sure.

DBC read what I wrote. I never said that gps doesnt hold speed. I said that it cannot keep a constant speed with a varying current. if you dont have a current its fine.
I have both gps and the paddlewheel, I'm talking from personal experience. if you have a 1mph current, then your effective speed on the gps will be off by 2mph going up stream vs down. gps speed control is fundamentally flawed in a current.

Dizzy... that's why you adjust it when in a current. It 'aint rocket science.