Maui rental gear

[lootz]

Any recommendations on renting equipment on Maui. Last fall, a friend of mine rented equipment from a shop and cracked the board. They made him buy the board for $900 even though he had bought "insurance". Any nightmares like that, please let me know?

[rswabsin]

I've rented from Hawaiian Island Sports the past three summers and they have always required that you purchase insurance and clearly have told me up front that there are limits to what it will cover such as board breakage due to a bad fall in the surf or hitting the reef (which is pretty common). This is standard at all the shops. At the end of my 2 week rental they refunded the insurance cost since I had'nt damaged anything which was pretty cool I thought. The insurance is really to cover small repairs. The real reason for the insurance is that many people absolutley beat the piss out the rental boards. I've always been able to rent new boards for the season in Maui but by August, an 8 month old board looks like its 5 years old with deep heavy gouges, heavily chipped and worn fins and often some punture repairs. It's really unbelievable how beat up the rental gear gets in just one season. Because the equipment is so heavily abused, it's almost impossible to talk yourself out of not being charged for cracking or breaking a board. Anyway, I recommed Hawaiian Island Sports and Kanha Kai for great service and equipment selection but you still gotta pay for the insurance and they have that board breakage clause. Treat the gear well when you return it and they'll likely return the insurance cost.

Have Fun

[alex177]

I'd second the recommendation for Hawaiian Island Sports. Last September, we rented a whole bunch of new JP boards and Ezzy sails and in February, I rented a SUP board from them. Those guys are quite nice. But we bought the insurance and haven't really broken anything.

[rswabsin]

Check out mauiwindsurfcompany.com for rental info as well. I just happened to click on their web site and they say they offer 100% rental insurance which says it coveres board breakage but not theft or gear loss at sea. May be worth looking into.

[lootz]

Thanks, I've rented in Bonaire a few times, but it is different there and less dangerous to equipment.