Author Topic: Bonga Perkins 10' review  (Read 13736 times)

Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Bonga Perkins 10' review
« on: December 04, 2007, 12:45:07 AM »
Howzit SUP-Zoners!
Okay, so I’ve finally put in some hours on my new Bonga Perkins 10’ SUP board. I’ve put in about 12 hours on the board on waves ranging from windy, choppy knee high, to clean head high waves and everything in between.  Here are the scoops.
My decision in deciding to purchase this board is that I wanted an all arounder board that I could use in most conditions from ankle snapper waves to overhead. I like doing everything, from down the line speed pumping, carving, hitting the lip, to walking the nose and hanging ten. I mix it up a lot, whatever the waves dictate, so one of my factors was it be surfable.  My choices came down between a PSH 10’ all arounder, SOS Big Green, and the Southpoint Bonga Perkins.  What swayed my decision was the package deal. Being financially strapped (starving teacher), the Nexxt paddle and full deck pad thrown in was a kicker, as I wanted an extra paddle for my other half to join me in flat water cruising. I will be as objective as possible in my review. Keep in mind that the only other boards I have ever SUPped was a huge dinosaur, first generation 12’ Parmenter (This was a one time deal and the bait that got me hooked.) and my NSP 11’ tandem which I bought for the price and as a starter.  I have been using the NSP for a little over a year and have used it in all kinds of waves up to overhead. I am 5’ 7” and weigh 165 pounds. Oh, I forgot that I am also bolohead, if it plays into wind resistance. LOL!
 Now the good stuff!!
Board:     The board is 10’ by 27” wide, 4 1/8” thick.  The set up is a 1 plus 2 thruster.  It comes with a step-rail which keeps the thickness(volume) but allows a thinner rail for surfability. The rail is rounded soft at the top and then gradually goes into a hard rail about 2/3rds down.  The craftsmanship is top notch thanks to Carl Schaper.  The bottom has quite a bit of rocker on the nose and goes to a gradual flatter rocker about 1/3rd down (there doesn’t seem to be any flat spot) and then kicks back up at the tail.  It is flat (no vee or concave) from the nose to about half-way down, then a slight vee which gradually deepens as you go towards the tail.  The top is flat and has a full grip deck from nose to tail, staying within the upper part of the step deck.  The max width because of the s-rail is 21”.  Tail is a diamond tail.  The paint finish looked and felt the same as my 9’1” Southpoint Bonga longboard.  My only regret was not taping the edge of the Nexxt paddle it came with on my intial ride.  The blade is quite sharp and I got a few paint chips from the initial ride.  After taping the paddle using the famed Standup Zone mastic tape method, no more dings! One thing I did was put a single layer of colored electric tape over the mastic tape to make the paddle more visible.  I found it also got rid of the black whack marks on the board form the mastic tape.  A review of the Nexxt paddle can be found in the gear section under on “Nexxt Paddle” by Scottie.
Impressions:   I was like “WOW” when I first got the board (as anybody would be with any new board, LOL!).  Of course proof is in the pudding, and I’m a firm believer of function before form mentality, so if it looks good, but rides crappy, it ain’t worth $h!t.
My first impressions was that the board was about as tippy as my NSP!  Might be due to the fact of the vee bottom. After adjusting a bit I realize the sweet spot is much smaller than my NSP. I was quite a bit back. After adjusting and finding my sweet spot, about the middle of the board, it felt more stable.  Paddling was on par, a lot faster to accelerate as it was lighter and shorter than my NSP.  The glide was lost probably because of the nose rocker, shorter length and light weight, but it still paddled great.  The pad looked and felt a bit slick when dry, but it was grippy in the water.  It is about 1/8” thick with enough cushion without feeling spongy.  No ridges and my feet does not fall asleep. The deck width limits your stance as it is 21”.  You can’t use the full 27” width of the board to widen your stance. This might be a negative for beginners or those with wide stance.  I was okay with it as my normal stance went the full width of the deck. The step deck can also be a plus as you can use as it a grip for your feet by hanging your toes over it and gripping the edge. I’ve use it often in  situations to help stabilize my balance. The downside is the optical illusion you have looking down, seeing a wider board and trying to widen your stance but being limited by the step deck.  After awhile you get used to it and adjust. The board is fun to surf! It accelerates fast when catching a wave, so now I can take off later than with the NSP.  The NSP had an advantage of having some glide for catching a wave a bit further out, but it took a bit to accelerate it, so the trade off is fine. The nose rocker also helped in being able to take off much later than my NSP without pearling. Building the confidence to trust the board was a trip, taking off later and steeper as if you were going to face plant, and then recovering.  The smaller rail makes it feel like I’m riding a loose longboard. It goes rail to rail easy and is a joy to carve.  Bottom turning I could really put it on rail with confidence. It held into the wave. Coming out of a turn I was not used to the acceleration compared to my NSP.  Now I can really lean into the the turn when doing a cutback.  Trying to hit the lip is still like using a 10’ longboard, but floaters are fun with the width stability on landing. The thinner rail allowed me to grip the board and turtle when caught inside in some situations.  The board pivots easily when riding off the tail. It doesn’t feel like it’s size at times when pivoting at speed. Walking the nose and nose riding was easy and felt great with the full deck pad. On the windy, choppy days I took it out it surfed fine as it cut through the rough spots okay.  Paddling and stabilizing in one spot was bit more of a chore as the board is really responsive to the wind and pivots around easily. All in all I find this board does great as an all arounder.  It does everything I had expected and then some. My only upgrade would be to add a tail pad wedge.  Oh, I did paint a faded red/orange stripe on the step rail for aesthetic reasons and also give it a little custom look. Funny thing is that after I did that it actually has a function in helping to downplay the optical illusion of a wider deck looking from standing up. Hope you folks enjoyed the review and feel free to ask any questions.  I’ll update as I progress with the board.  My next purchase I am looking at one of Blane’s  9’6” performance board, a more surf dedicated machine.  Hurry up tax return season!
Aloha,
Honolii




Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2007, 12:45:51 AM »
How do you post pictures?
Thanks....

DavidJohn

  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 6675
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2007, 04:44:33 AM »
Thanks for the review..It's about what I expected..I also have been using an NSP (because nothing else was available then)..and my local surf shops have now have a few SUP's to choose from, one of which is a Bonga.

I've been offered a test ride..and will do soon..I just need to find a paper bag big enough.. ;D.

Re posting pics..I think you will first need to load them in a photo site so you will then have a url number..and it's this url number that lets you to post a pic...(I think)...sites like Photobucket are free.

DJ

Admin

  • Administrator
  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 6443
    • View Profile
    • StandUpZone
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2007, 04:50:09 AM »
Hi Honolii,
Thanks for the well thought out review.  Please post it in the Product reviews section as well (link above).  You will find it easy to upload.  You can use the photo gallery link above to upload your photos and then link them in your posts. 

Thanks again!

Admin

  • Administrator
  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 6443
    • View Profile
    • StandUpZone
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2007, 04:52:39 AM »
Quote
Re posting pics..I think you will first need to load them in a photo site so you will then have a url number..and it's this url number that lets you to post a pic...(I think)...sites like Photobucket are free.

Hi David,
We have our own right here http://www.standupzone.com/photopost/ as well.  We hope that everyone will use it for their stand up related shots. 

Thanks!

Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2007, 09:43:55 AM »
Here are the photos. Hope it works.




Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2007, 09:46:33 AM »
Darn! Okay, sorry.  I do have the pics up on the Gear section of the photo gallery.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2007, 11:15:00 AM by Admin »

Admin

  • Administrator
  • Cortez Bank Status
  • *****
  • Posts: 6443
    • View Profile
    • StandUpZone
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2007, 11:16:40 AM »
Hi Honolii, I modified one for you.  To copy the URL of the actual photo, right click on the photo, select properties, and copy the Url from the properties box.

Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2007, 11:42:52 AM »




DaddyDog

  • Malibu Status
  • **
  • Posts: 58
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2007, 02:35:15 PM »
Nice job on the review, it gives alot of insight and helps a-lot.  I've only had a chance to ride one of these once, I'd like to try again.  Congrats on the new toy. 

srfnff

  • Sunset Status
  • ****
  • Posts: 278
    • View Profile
    • Srfnff
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2007, 09:04:20 PM »
Honolii,
Great review! Thanks. You hit all the high points and answered all my questions, especially re the step deck and the boards allrounder aspects.

Actually I have one question: what fins/sizes are you using?

Thanks again,
gary

Honolii

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 218
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2007, 10:29:39 PM »
The fins I'm using are the stock fins it came with.  The main fin is a fiberglass 8" Schaper.  The side fins are FCS G5 which are about 4.5".  My main fin set up is pushed forward so the front of the fin is about aligned with the back of the side fins. I've yet to experiment.

surfpainter

  • Sunset Status
  • ****
  • Posts: 486
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2007, 04:58:48 AM »
I paddled this board as well ..in calm conditions, it's very un-stable . Acceleration is good but the waves that day were not good enough to make a proper performance decision. I am 180lbs.  You better have good skills to be comfortable on this board...

Tree

  • Sunset Status
  • ****
  • Posts: 438
  • $BLA BOYZ$
    • View Profile
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2007, 01:56:31 PM »
Can somebody do a reveiw of the South Point Kalama board? Just curious. Out here in the Great White North we are very limited as far as board selection goes.

MichaelF

  • Rincon Status
  • ***
  • Posts: 199
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Bonga Perkins 10' review
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2007, 03:01:29 PM »
I saw the Dave kalama / Timpone board and this seem to be more in the size/look and feel of the Original Laird/ Starboard 12'6/ C4 11'6/ Stewart 11'6 --Appeared long and wider and been built as a general purpose board - http://www.surfindustries.com/ratings/readReview.php?flag=true&revID=76&bbrand=southpoint&btype=southpoint_jeff_timpone_sup

 


SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal