I pulled up this page as I always find great resources here and am heading to OBX next weekend. I saw your question at the top and figured I would try to pay it forward a bit. I'm sure the salty regulars don't like seeing this sort of question all of the time, and believe if you searched properly, you'd have all of the answers you'll need. When I started surf fishing though, I still had more questions than I could find answers to. My reply comes with a caveat; you should take the advice of most people on this forum over mine. I'm in Ohio and surf fishing is an 8–10-hour drive for me. I fish rivers and creeks the most; a fly angler first, but also really like smallmouth fishing on a spinning rod. Whatever the location or technique however, if there are fish to be caught, I'll try catching them.
First, I wouldn't ever want to hassle with a rental rod for the surf. I'm not certain anybody would rent a setup either, I can't see a good business model there. People always abuse rental gear and I bet 3/4 of them would put the rod down into the sand. Staff would be needed to clean the reels after every rental, and equipment damage fees (and ensuing arguments) would be a constant on most rentals.
You may not need to buy new gear if you want to give it a precursory try. If you have any existing gear that can throw a couple of ounces, it will work at low tide (which is also the best time to fish). If you ever chased catfish in Georgia, a catfishing setup will be great to see if you like it. Most catfish rods are built to throw heavy weight, which is necessary when the surf is rough. My first time in the surf, I tried said catfish rod, a steelhead rod, and a musky rod, all fit the bill of having some length and able to throw weight, but the musky rod was too stiff. For the reel, other than shark anglers, I've only seen spinning reels in use. If all of your reels are low-profile bass-style bait casters, I wouldn't recommend using one of them. If you have one of the more traditional bait casters or "conventional reel", that will work since it would be easy to clean. Whether a "saltwater" reel or not, rinse off your reel in clean water after every trip, lube often (I like reel butter), and NEVER put your reel on the sand, that will ruin a $1000 reel just as fast as a $10 one.
If you want "actual surf fishing gear" to soak weight and bait, I suspect you can get into a serviceable quality outfit for around $100; one of the Tsunami combos perhaps. A setup with the durability of what charter captains use may be around $150. On the boat, you'll notice Penn Pursuit ($50-ish) or Fierce ($75) reels predominately, with Shimano Siennas ($40) mixed in (even though the Sienna isn't a "Saltwater Reel). If you aren't chasing monster drum or sharks, I see no reason to get larger than a 5000 size if using mono/Fluoro, or 4000 size if you are going to use braid. I personally found the miscellaneous annoyances with braid too much and went back to using mono (either Ande or Berkley Big Game) on all of my reels and use Fluoro on any rigs I tie. I suspect most dedicated surf anglers use braid with a shock leader though. For a "true surf rod", it would be worth looking at an Okuma Longitude or Penn Battalion 2 rod. When in stock, Wally World has the Penn rod much less than everywhere else. An 8' medium heavy/heavy action Penn fierce combo will be $125 and very good if you don't want to put a lot of money into something that only works for weight and bait in the surf; it would be great on a pier and other forms of surf fishing.
Use that 8' fierce combo (or medium to medium light rod/reel) to drift live bait (get from a cast net or sabiki) unweighted on a big 5/0 hook near an inlet or pier is another technique. Use a heavy leader (30-40lb) when doing that. In addition to live drifting, that lighter combo will be good to use when casting spoons, Jigs, and topwater into the surf. To me, seeing a blue hit a zara in calm surf is more fun than catching a bucketmouth in fresh water on the same plug.
For weight and bait tackle, there isn't a lot needed. I would recommend getting Owner Mutu circle hooks in size 2, 1, 1/0, and 2/0. (Larger if the bait won't fit on a 2/0 hook). The Owner "ghost rigs" are really great for being lazy and quick with a fish finder rig. (This is a Carolina rig with a pyramid style sinker on a sinker slide). The other rig would be a high/low style. They are pretty easy to tie, but you can buy ready-made ones and just clip on the hooks and sinker. While they don't come with super high-quality hooks, I still prefer the cheap rigs that come hook attached over the ones where there are snaps to put your hook on. The premade pompano/spot rigs that have floats next to the hook are productive as well. The essential piece of gear though is your sinker, have some from 1 ounce to as large of a weight and bait total that your rod can handle (I typically go a bit higher). I've found that if a pyramid is still getting tossed around and I can't add more, a sputnik sinker is really worth the cost. I try the lightest pyramid I can get away with, and increase. If I hit a wall with regular pyramids, then I'll try a sputnik before giving up and packing inland. For bait you'll want to try fresh shrimp, live fish (mullet, spot, etc), frozen squid, frozen shrimp, and sand fleas (you can catch on the beach). Get your baitfish via cast net or sabiki rig. Also fishbites, I can't count how many times they (either the shrimp or bloodworm flavor) have saved me from a skunk.
Be sure to follow when the annual mullet run comes through, everything you can imagine will be in surf range. Also watch reports for the pompanos, soo tasty!
Another piece of gear for bait and weight fishing I find invaluable is a Shibumi shade. Though the price of admission for it sucks, your wife will love having that also.
Don't discount the sound. It's great fun and you can use light tackle. A cheap combo of a 3000 size Penn Pursuit and an Ugly Stick Intercoastal rod is hard to beat. It'll work to bring in a 30" snook. I haven't fished Boca, but I'll bet you'll have flounder, trout, and snook, available all up and down the intercoastal. Probably sheepshead near structure. Find public access points where you can get to wadeable areas in the sound. Also hit the inlets and points where fish move into the sound side. I love catching Snook and trout at the inlets in Naples with shrimp and a popping cork.
At some point you'll have to get a guide to chase the silver king, I've been meaning to head to Boca just to try that.
