I brought a 2015 Naish Hokua GT and I have found that the durability of my 2015 Hokua is a great deal less than my 2014 Hokua GT as iv found big cracks through the rails I'm up to my third repair and I'm wondering if anyone els is having similar issues with the 2015 Hokua's

I know nothing on Naish durability, but if your board seems more fragile (for whatever reason: a novice glasser, lighter construction...) you may want to carefully check that there are no water entry around the fin boxes, and more importantly the handle:
rails dings are easy to see and fix, but a leak around the handle can develop and gobble up liters of waters without notice.

This is an issue for all mass-produced brands: if your board dings easily, check the handle after each session. Board building is still a very manual process, whose consistency becomes more and more difficult with the amount of boards produced.

On your board, you may want to check with your dealer if there is a defect: too much sanding of the rails? a foam cavity along the rail? Part of the premium price of big brands is to be able to change defective boards.

Oh no, don't say that: I was just about to buy a 2015 Nalu...

...and I've got a 2014 that has been a total joke: the decals at the side just rubbed straight off, and it has chipped more than every other board I've owned put together.

I thought Naish fixed this for 2015? Maybe this Hokua is just a lemon, but my experiences with my 2014 Nalu have made me very wary -so I'm also interested to hear from other 2015 Naish surf SUP owners.

I've had the 2015 Naish Nalu 10''6" GT for 9 months, it's great, strong & a winner.
Also bought the 2015 Naish LE Carbon Jav 14'x28" as a DW board, kept falling apart, even the board repairer said send it back to the manufacturer. So the good, the bad & the ugly.

Area10 are you talking about a 2014 Nalu GT? Mine has been tough as. Had to get one small repair on the deck from when I accidentaly samurai'd it with my paddle after coming off a wave. Apart from that, nearly 2 years, countless sessions -no dramas.

Must be a luck of the draw thing...

My Nalu is still in great condition, very tough even after my daughter and her 4 friends use it as a pontoon last summer.

I bought a Nalu GT last year and it's tough as. No issues.

Broke my 2015 Naish Nalu 10'6 GT last week. It was one year old.

It cracked on each rail, and folded across the deck.

I weigh 76Kg, so I'm not too heavy on it.

I was paddling back to shore when I looked down and saw the cracked rails. So, I don't know what actual wave it happened on.

Once I pulled the traction deck off, I noticed it was quite soft all over the deck where I stand and soft in surrounding area's where I don't stand much at all.

My guess is, my use of it over the last year has made the deck weak, allowing the board to bend easier once a wave crashes upon it.

I have used this board on some big days, and I have used the board quite a fair bit over the past year. I did really like its shape.

I know any board can break if it gets punished enough, and maybe mine did. But I wont be buying one the same in the future, unless they change the construction of them, and the 2016 Nalu is constructed the same way.

I may be in a small minority of being unlucky with these boards.

I will fix it for now.

Aaron

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JoffaDan said...
Area10 are you talking about a 2014 Nalu GT? Mine has been tough as. Had to get one small repair on the deck from when I accidentaly samurai'd it with my paddle after coming off a wave. Apart from that, nearly 2 years, countless sessions -no dramas.

Must be a luck of the draw thing...

Yes, 10-6 GT 2014. Paintwork chipping everywhere and it seems like it might be missing a top coat hence why the decals rub off so easily. No major structural damage yet though, as far as I can tell.

This was my 3rd Naish board and the others have been bombproof so I was very disappointed.

Hi guys,

I've demo'd my 11ft Nalu GT all year and have surfed it on everything from 1 foot to 6 foot and have no problems at all, still looks new. We have only had one warranty claim which was honoured all season with Naish. The warranty claim was for a few small bubbles on the bottom. Swapped out straight away no probs.

The vagaries of surf kit shows that two identical boards can go through a pounding, one will break and one wont. The waves are all different and how the board is impacted by the wave is always different making it impossible to say whether a board is defective or not.

DM

So even if big name board prices are skyrocketing upwards......they still snap just the same as the cheap ones ? A bit of a worry for us punters

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GizzieNZ said..
So even if big name board prices are skyrocketing upwards......they still snap just the same as the cheap ones ? A bit of a worry for us punters

im speechless at this bit of genius gizzie

Anything can snap given the right circumstances. Even the most innocent ones. Doesn't take much torque/force to bend something that long in even small surf.

Inflatable boards dont snap

They just bend and wobble

Yesterday I noticed a mate who had been enjoying his new Naish Australian model 10' was back on his Surftech Laguna Bay. He told me the Naish is out of the water with cracks at the nose. He was not at all impressed with what he described as a "soft" glass job. This caught me by surprise. Given the cost, I assumed these boards have superior durability? I am happy to drop out of the market, and buy something second hand when they are proven.