FunWater Stand Up Paddle Board

 So far I am absolutely thrilled with this budget board. Three of my family members purchased PEAK brand boards earlier this spring, I gave one a try and I new I wanted a board of my own but theirs cost upwards of six hundred dollars each, and they were completely sold out of every size and style.

Even if the PEAK brand hadn’t been sold out, 550-600 seemed like an awful lot of money (although I can’t deny the quality and durability of their PEAK boards is top notch so far). I started looking at other boards, more budget friendly options, etc. Early summer 2020 was a BAD time to be shopping for a paddle board, these things were selling like hot cakes and every brand from cheap to expensive was running out of stock every other day. After skimming search results for a good 4 days is when THIS particular board popped up as being “In stock”, and it was selling for under three hundred dollars.

I pondered it for a while, suspicious of the low price, but while I pondered it went from “in stock” to “20 remaining” and a short while later it went to “5 remaining” and at that point I knew I had to act or miss out, so I pulled the trigger. These boards have come in stock once since then and once again they sold out their stock within a day. So if you get a chance and you are still shopping during this crazy summer where all brands are going out of stock left and right, my advice would be to BUY RIGHT NOW while you still can!

My wife has one of those PEAK brand boards so I was able to do a very close comparison and so far it looks like I got one heck of a deal. Is there some difference between her twice as expensive board and this one? Yes, but so far not enough difference to justify the extra cost.

Let me tell you where I see notable differences: Her pump is a little nicer, her paddle is a tiny bit nicer (mostly in aesthetics), her bag is heavier more durable material with padded straps and back rest (no padding on the bag for this budget board). Now between the pumps so far I do not notice much difference in actual pumping time, despite hers being a dual stage pump and mine being a single stage. My pump feels a bit cheaper but for far the pump and the gauge work fine, and I clocked about 5 minutes to pump up either board with either pump, so good enough for now. Both boards use the same valve so the pumps are interchangeable.

Differences between the boards themselves: The PEAK brand probably wins in the subjective styling department, but both boards feel equally rigid and tough when pumped up. They are roughly the same size, both 11 footers and both 6 inches thick but mine is actually an inch wider in the middle (33 vs hers at 32 inches) and then mine has a bit more of a tapered point in the front. On the PEAK board only the large center fin is removable. On this budget board all three fins remove and I think this is actually a desirable advantage as it makes stacking easier. The PEAK brand board has more D-rings and more overall storage, mainly in that the PEAK board has bungees front and back while my board only has front bungees and fewer connection points. So point goes to PEAK for more storage and more style but overall the boards are similar size and both are solid and seem to be good quality so far. I don’t notice any major difference between the soft deck material, that is good on both boards.

They day I got my board we rushed out to the lake, even though it was windy. A friend joined us on an older board that was shorter and thinner. Despite the waves and my personal inexperience I kept up with the PEAK board just fine. Having the widest board there, I felt no stability issues in the mild waves and my three fins kept me going straight (our friend with the older single-fin board struggled a bit more to stay stable and track straight). My simple all-black paddle did the job just fine, no slipping issues at the adjustment point.

Overall for initial impressions and first trip out I’d say this board is excellent value. Other than less bungee storage it seems to give up nothing in terms of performance vs the twice-the-price PEAK board. From here it will be down to TIME to determine if going the budget route actually saved me money or will leave me sad with a blown seam at some point down the road. I will for sure be back here updating this review the moment any kind of major issue does occur, so if this review is not updated you can safely assume I am still happily using the board and the longevity battle between this and her PEAK board is still ongoing.

I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat, shopping for an 11 footer under 350 was really tough during the period I was shopping in and style choices varied greatly, I like the looks of this one so to snag it under 300 was really awesome but I don’t know if they will drop that cheap with the way demand is right now.

Thanks for reading and best of luck to you in your search!

As of now, I’ve used this paddleboard consistently for 3 years. It’s held up pretty well over this time! It’s pretty stable and has good construction for the most part.

The feature I like the most is the removable fins. It makes it easy to swap out damaged fins, when needed, and also for interchanging them with shorter fins for river runs and shallows. It also means the I can pack down my board to a smaller form factor, which is useful when I’m carpooling with multiple people with their own boards.

One feature that I wish it had is an additional tie-down or O-rings. While the board feels roomy and has a good front storage area, I can’t help but think wistfully for another section of tie-downs. In our state, we’re required to have a PFD on our board or worn. I’m a strong swimmer, so I generally won’t have it on, meaning it’s taking up the storage space in front. If I’m packing a small backpack, it either needs to share space with the PFD or otherwise be sitting on my board without a tie-down, which is pretty bad if you’re doing a river run. It’s not the end of the world, so I would likely buy this again, but it’s something to thik about.