If it had the original paint, which is quite thin, I would certainly have thought 29.8 would be better. Mine was powder coated, which was done thinly for PC but still thicker than paint, so 30.0 worked perfectly.
It's a later Kona one, drilled out to accept an outer cable. I went for it as it looked a bit different from the original one. Lot of detail on this bike which most don't see!
I can recommend these in 29.8 flavour black or silver , Hope Q/R are not good in my experience I had one on the Gulf Kona but kept slipping, Thomson ones look much better, no need for a Q/R IMO