Custom/Hybrid Bob Gen 2 an honest review

Tommygunz

Team PHP
Location
Wisconsin
I just thought i would post up an honest nonbiased review after a couple weeks of riding my bob gen 2 hull. This was the complete process of my purchase to the final build of my ski.

Just to make this clear, Im not trying to bash or sell these skis, I just want to share my build.

Myself and two other friends purchased gen 2 bobs(3 total) from Action Extreme Powersports in Plymouth, WI, a bob dealer.

Purchase;

I bought this hull for the same $4000 as you buy these from the ski clinic for. We all added a billet pole bracket and kart tank to the base build which we knew was an added expense. When the invoice came in we saw that there were some charges on there that we didnt recognise. I had Action contact the ski clinic to find out what they were about. We were informed that the things not included in the original $4000 price were a $175 crate fee (we thought the $300 shipping per ski included this), the front hood clip, the bow eye tie down, and the two rear bow eyes....not huge, but something I didn't know about. I was under the impression from the web site that it was $4000 turn build ready plus shipping.

Fit and Finish;

I was a little dissapointed at the overall lack detail of the finish. If you buy a bob and were expecting something similar to a superjet fit and finish don't. I checked out a buddy's q8 a couple of days before mine came in and it was a bit of a let down when I saw my bob. There were surface blemishes on the body of the ski and quite a few of them around the tight areas like the hood latch a pole bracket area. There were a couple places where the gel coat didn't adhear to the fibelglass ( more now that I've ridden it for a couple of weeks) and has cracked and chipped out...almost like there was a bubble underneath and it just flakes away. The turf on the bumpers lasted one ride before it needed a reglue. The vinyl graphics ddin't last much longer than the turf.

Weight:

All 3 hulls were ordered as glass surf hulls. We all ride our skis fairly hard and were concerned with breakage. We told them to make sure they were built strong. The website advertises a surf hull to weigh 90-100lbs so you can imagine our surprise when two of the hulls tipped the scale at 140lbs and mine weighed 130lbs all with hoods on. We were a little dissapointed when we weighed up a standard bare round nose hull with hood and nose piece at 120lbs!

Build;

Action worked after hours to get my ski put together for me, but there were a couple of bumps on the way. The first was that the pumps didn't fit in any of the 3 hulls. The bolt holes didn't line up with the bosses in the hull so some pretty serious grinding on my pump was required. Action later told me this was due to the ski clinics mock up pump having wallowed out bolt holes. The other major problem we ran into was the bosses in the hull for the gas tank and water box straps were mistakenly put in the wrong spot. The location of the inlet of the water box was a least 3 inches behind where the end of the stinger on my b-pipe ended! I was excited to go ride before the ice came in so action finished it up for me with no water box. The ski Clinic did step up to the plate and agreed to send a replacement water box to hull pipe hose that was cut too short during mock up of the box. Action is going to cut and reglass the mounts in the correct location when I get the longer stock hose in.


Ride;

The ski does ride nice. It is pretty stable even at speed and seems like it will make a good rec boat. It does ride a little nose high (especially for me at 235), but that is to be expected on a short hull. Derrick said they were working on an extended ride plate that could be bolted on for surf conditions to help remedy this. I've been able to flip it easily in small surf waves, but at 330lbs ready to ride weight my 760 might not be up to the task in flat water. I really do enjoy ridding the ski and despite some of the problems would do it over again. I think it will be a good choice as a replacement for the 00 superjet I had. Hopefully this experience will help someone who is thinking about buying one and let them know what to expect and what not to expect.

I want to thank Zack at Action Extreme Powersports for building my ski and Derrick from the ski clinic for helping through the problems I ran into.

I would of posted some pictures if I could figure out how to do it from my I phone!!!!
 
Did you ask why it was soo heavy? I didn't realize there fit and finish was soo bad. I a little worried about my gen3 that's on order. I had heard good things on the gen2's quality
 

Tommygunz

Team PHP
Location
Wisconsin
I don't mean its bad fit and finish- just not a factory production hull. This is also my first aftermarket hull. And I would be not be worried at all about your hull on order.
 
Hmm,here is my problems about my hull. Even though my ski was bought used, Derrick said that the hull was going to be freshened up with new turf and itll look like new. It took about 3 weeks to "freshen it up". When i recieved it, the turf looked great but the quality of the visuals werent the best. The Paint was chipped pretty bad. The is a specific spot where i can see a spot of fiber (size of a quarter) that is really thin. You would think that they would have fixed that spot with some epoxy and touch up paint. Some stickers on the left side are all peeled up. Expecially this one where i found it in the create it came in. I thought they would have replaced the decales that are coming off almost all the way. I called derrick and spoke to his son and they told me to buy some new stickers. I thought that freshening it up would be stuff like that... The battery box had to be cut in half so that it could fit next to the tank. Now the box is pretty much worthless, and i now have only one strap to hold the tank down because the other strap goes to the side of the battery box that i cut off. when i took off the rideplate 3 screws were the same length and one was about a half inch longer. I had to cut it down because it was way to long. The screw had already done damage to the hull where it broke through the top of the insert from who ever put it in at the ski clinic. The strap anchors had to be cut so that the bottoms of them didnt into the fiber and crack the hull. That wasn't such a big deal. But besides all that, the hull is great. The pump fits perfectly Thanks guys.
 
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Tommygunz

Team PHP
Location
Wisconsin
Did you ask why it was soo heavy? I didn't realize there fit and finish was soo bad. I a little worried about my gen3 that's on order. I had heard good things on the gen2's quality

And to address your weight question- Action called Derrick and asked and they said they were built stronger than normal because that's what we asked for. And we had never expressed any specific weight we wanted so I'm sure strength was what they wanted to give us.

Our thought was that if a surf hull is to be between 90-100 we figured that a heavy duty surf would be near the higher mark so we had planned on maybe 100-110. But weight was never communicated to the ski clinic from us so we mite have miscommunicated that. No fault to the ski clinic- and I know these things are indestructible! !!
 

tightithrash

Zack Bright. I Thrash.
Site Supporter
Location
Oceanside, CA
Hmm,here is my problems about my hull. Even though my ski was bought used, Derrick said that the hull was going to be freshened up with new turf and itll look like new. It took about 3 weeks to "freshen it up". When i recieved it, the turf looked great but the quality of the visuals werent the best. The Paint was chipped pretty bad. The is a specific spot where i can see a spot of fiber (size of a quarter) that is really thin. You would think that they would have fixed that spot with some epoxy and touch up paint. Some stickers on the left side are all peeled up. Expecially this one where i found it in the create it came in. I thought they would have replaced the decales that are coming off almost all the way. I called derrick and spoke to his son and they told me to buy some new stickers. I thought that freshening it up would be stuff like that... The battery box had to be cut in half so that it could fit next to the tank. Now the box is pretty much worthless, and i now have only one strap to hold the tank down because the other strap goes to the side of the battery box that i cut off. when i took off the rideplate 3 screws were the same length and one was about a half inch longer. I had to cut it down because it was way to long. The screw had already done damage to the hull where it broke through the top of the insert from who ever put it in at the ski clinic. The strap anchors had to be cut so that the bottoms of them didnt into the fiber and crack the hull. That wasn't such a big deal. But besides all that, the hull is great. The pump fits perfectly Thanks guys.

To be fair, your hul is a used 2 year old hull that i think was the 5th one ever made. The fact that that is all that is wrong with it.... I wouldnt complain. t pains is brand spanking new. I'm sure the PO put that bolt in. Again. Yours is used. It's rare a company even takes it back and does what they did for you.

T pain I wouldn't be too upset about the weight. Weight is necessary in the surf and being it's a smaller hull it will pry handle better being heavy. Plus it's small so airs will be easy anyways. The fit and finish would piss me off but once its taken care of it's all good.
 

Tommygunz

Team PHP
Location
Wisconsin
To be fair, your hul is a used 2 year old hull that i think was the 5th one ever made. The fact that that is all that is wrong with it.... I wouldnt complain. t pains is brand spanking new. I'm sure the PO put that bolt in. Again. Yours is used. It's rare a company even takes it back and does what they did for you.

T pain I wouldn't be too upset about the weight. Weight is necessary in the surf and being it's a smaller hull it will pry handle better being heavy. Plus it's small so airs will be easy anyways. The fit and finish would piss me off but once its taken care of it's all good.

I have to agree with ya Zack, the weight definitely helps in the surf I've been able to try it in:)
 
To be fair, your hul is a used 2 year old hull that i think was the 5th one ever made. The fact that that is all that is wrong with it.... I wouldnt complain. t pains is brand spanking new. I'm sure the PO put that bolt in. Again. Yours is used. It's rare a company even takes it back and does what they did for you.

T pain I wouldn't be too upset about the weight. Weight is necessary in the surf and being it's a smaller hull it will pry handle better being heavy. Plus it's small so airs will be easy anyways. The fit and finish would piss me off but once its taken care of it's all good.
That is true. I not saying that i dont like it, or that Im not happy. Im extremely happy with it and i love it. They did a great job with it for being a used hull.
 
Location
nj
good writeup,sad to hear about your problems,stay tuned guys im going to be making some hulls will have tons of info on them
 
I have a Gen 1 that still looks good (about 5 hours on it cause i'm old and my back hurts) but has a few pin holes in the finish and the turf is so-so. Not on par with my Bullet Gen1 SXR hull, but no different than any other ski that has a season on it. Hope it rides good for you and I'm sure The Ski Clinic crew is just gonna get better and better. The Bullet hulls are Top Shelf on fit and finish and their carbon work is the best I have seen(which aint saying much).
 
Yeah man, thanks for an honest review. I sit here drooling over these sorts of rides convinced the grass is always greener, or if I only had that I could....

Good to know
 
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