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cornwallis said..
Update after 6 months on the GONG LETHAL 4'4 32L, probably 100-150 hours, prone foiling, linking waves, lots of pumping. I surf a shortboard around the 33L mark for reference, weight ~70kg.

www.gong-galaxy.com/en/product/gong-surf-foil-board-lethal-fsp-pro-2022/

Construction
+ Remained stiff, no noticeable flex around the base, this to me is the most crucial
- Garbage deck pad, lots of tears, peeling etc. Replaced after 2 months
- Paint chips pretty easily
- Crack where I fell on it with my hips and the rail split, no real bruising on the hips, so I guess not super strong

Design
+ Catches waves easily enough
+ Release from water and rebound all reasonable
- Narrow design is definitely trickier to pop-up than an equivalent volume wider board, and the volume in the tail is against the current trend I guess
- Thickness is quite noticeable. I felt that the thinner boards feel better under foot

I would suggest this board to those in the EU who are looking for a cheaper alternative. The drawbacks probably do not outweigh the positives, and feel like it is reasonably good value for money. However if I get the opportunity I look forward to replacing it with a more refined surf optimised shape with more carbon, and a more robust finish.

For some reason, Gong produces boards on which the pad needs to be pressed by a customer before going for the first time into the water.

@cornwallis: Did you do that before using your board?

Here is an excerpt from the Gong board manual ( www.gong-galaxy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/21-NOTICE-GONG-RIGID-BOARDS-WEB.pdf ):

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Some SUP, WING, Surf, Foil and KITE Boards come with Pads.
We could offer you pads glued with resin in factory, impossible to peel off.
But a Pad is something that undergoes some serious wear and tear and that should be relatively easy to replace
if needed.
GONG GALAXY has therefore chosen to equip our Boards with Pads glued with a top-of-the-range 3M adhesive.
It offers you the best compromise between adhesion and renewability.
However, you must be alerted on certain points of vigilance:
? When you receive your Board, press the Pad well over its entire surface to obtain a long-lasting 3M adhesion,
a pastry roller in the kitchen is perfect for this.
? Exposure to extreme heat can cause the pad to come off.
? As soon as you notice that the Pad is starting to peel, re-glue it immediately before sand gets between the
Pad and the Board. Use strong gel glue such as Loctite/Pattex between a perfectly dry Pad and Board.
If needed, you can order the replacement Pad for your Board at GONG-GALAXY.com or by contacting our
sales department via our online contact form.

My wing board Lethal is now 8 months old, used 56 times for 158 hours in total and currently doesn't show any issues with pads peeling off. I had a Gong Mint board before and I forgot to do that "pressing" step before going into the water so I needed to glue a small part of it with glue after some sessions.
It could be that wing board pads don't wear as fast as prone board pads - that could explain why I don't have the same issue.

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kvek said..

It offers you the best compromise between adhesion and renewability.

My wing board Lethal is now 8 months old, used 56 times for 158 hours in total and currently doesn't show any issues with pads peeling off.

In my experience with their SUPs, they adjusted the compromise somewhat between 2019 and 2022, be it the type of 3M glue or the way the factory was applying the pads. I had to monitor the 2019 pads and re-glue (with a MS Polymer glue) as soon as I saw some unglueing, about 3 to 4 times total per board, but the 2022 pads never come unstuck. I think the 2020 & 2021 pads are similar to the 2022, but I have no first hand experience.

The new 2023 pads on foil boards seem quite interesting, with their flat surface with mini grooves. It should resist more the wear of hard soles boots, be less tiring on naked feet, ease getting out of straps. We'll see.

PS: I have always pressed the pads on new boards. I use for this a skateboard wheel screwed on a wooden shaft padded with eva foam. Best done at 20C + temperatures (in winter, let the board indoor a bit before pressing the pad)


I even use vices for the kickpad before the 2022 pads:

Colas unfortunately I didn't do that, I didn't see the notice or wasn't made aware. I did do the maintenance glueing until the pad became too torn to be worth pursuing. I am very hard on gear and probably let the issue get too far before gluing, so perhaps an outlier. Attached picture before I glued it.

The primary issue however is that the deck pad started tearing, and couldn't handle the repeated feet dragging along the deck in the pop up. I think a good point KVEK, likely a specific requirement of prone foiling, which has the repeated popup. You can see that the right side of the back and front pads took the bulk of the damage, this because my right foot needs to get from behind the board to the front. Riding with boots makes this slightly clumsy, and I think accelerated the process into autumn.

This obviously doesn't work for Wing that require very specific strap locations, but for strapless boards I think it makes sense to ship without a pad. I have another board with nearly double the number of sessions with a Gorilla pad and there is not a single corner lifting, and zero signs of wear. My gong board now looks like a mess with the original deck pad glue residue showing, and a new compromised deck pad as I haphazardly replaced bit by bit as the original flaked off.

Initially the pad felt pretty solid, I was worried that it was too rigid and might now damage the wetsuit, but when I removed it it was very soft.

Structurally the board is still solid, and has been a net positive purchase, the only gripe and a common one to FFB boards too, is a poor quality pad. I don't know what the elegant solution would be to accommodate straps.

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cornwallis said..
Colas unfortunately I didn't do that

Honestly, I don't think it would have prevented the unglueing. My 2019 pads lifted even though I pressed them when new. I also filled the slots in the pad were my rear foot was moving, as these big slots helped the pad to get unstuck.

Gong boards were delivered for some years without pads (from 2011 to 2015). But customers were massively for having pads factory-installed, so they had to factory-install them.

Also, as Gong boards are sold at a low price, price constraints weight heavily on the pad compromises. I guess in 2019 the quality of the glue and/or the assembly (time taken to press it properly) were not optimal, and they corrected it later.

PS: I ordered my two custom Gong SUPs without pads, but it meant I spent 220+ euros (350 AUD) of pad per board, instead of the 60 euros of a Gong full deck pad...Note: we are speaking of the old pads, the newer ones seem better in this aspect, and the newest (slick ones) may be even better.