I recently “inherited” this board from a friend who moved out to HI and could not bring it along. Not quite sure if it is a kneeboard or a stand-up stubbie. It is 5’11" x 22 & 1/2" x 2 & 7/8" . Flat decked, thick as a brick, and weighing in at approximately 11 lbs.
Unfortunately, it sat out in the sun in a boatyard for quite some time, so it is a bit worse for wear. But it has been out of the water for years and inside for a few months now, so I figure it is time to show this old gal some attention.
Despite her blemishes, she is actually pretty solid. I’m planning on doing some restoration and putting her back in the water, if for nothing else sh*ts and giggles. Even the cancerous finbox is pretty solid, but I’ll prob pull and reset that too.
I don’t want to add too much more weight, so I am going to take my time with cutting and foam filling. In the end, I’m toying with the idea of painting over everything, but masking the logos so they are still visible (seen this done on a lot of old longboards).
I understand there are restoration threads buried in the archives, and I’ll review those later. For now, I thought people might like to see this before I start cuttin’.
Input is welcome.
Looks pretty rad to me. I like the shorter wider fatter, ya know? Nothin wrong with that in my book. I may be going out on a limb here. I know with epoxy you will use less resin vs poly, but would it be lighter, i don’t know actually, but stronger, yes. Something to consider i guess. But either way, have fun and post pixxxxxx.
WOOHOOOO … a REAL stubby !!! [thanks heaps for posting THAT , Hackmeister !]
yep , I would say it’s a standup , despite its [?excessive?] width .
IF those dings are watertight , don’t butcher it …SURF it now !! [and , make yourself a new one , if you like it…]
And , yes … please post some shots of how it goes ?
… here’s one from 1973 (printed BOTH ways , for the goofies , and the naturals , here)…photos used without permission , sorry [I think they might have been from an old Surfer’s Journal, maybe?]
… enjoy, matey !
ben
The dark ones on the bottom are all mushy and delamed a bit, so they are in the process of getting cut and filled. The foam under the mushy stuff is still really white, as is the filler I used to thicken the resin (I went with RR epoxy because of the weight factor (not much of a diff though), my health, and that is all I have on-hand right now), so the board is looking really odd with bright white repaired dings on a brown background!
Not sure what I am doing with that dark brown one on the rail near the nose as the lap is thick there, so it is not mushy at all when I apply strong thumb pressure… the water seeped in there because the tucked-under edge lightly split like a seam. I might just leave it as-is and fix that split to prevent anything more than happening.
The deck is a myriad of tiny cracks and minor water damage, but pretty solid to thrumb pressure (no delams).
The fin is fairly solid, but there is definitely a bit of water damage (there is a deep funk in the shadow cast by the fin in the photo, so it is hard to get an idea from what I provided). I might rout the sides of the box and re-seat it that way as a complete pull-and-reset might be overkill (and if it fails I can always go back and make it right next time).
I was thinking of coloring the whole bottom with a mellow earth-tone (to not overpower the “vintage” look of the rest of the board) and leaving the rails and edge clear (but hitting them both with multiple acrylic clear coats to seal it). But because of that nasty rail funk near the nose and some by the tail, I might just do it all at once… either a solid color or two-tone the bottom and the rails/deck.
Do you know the date on that one? Looks like a first-generation Bonzer 5, 1982-83 maybe? Great find!
aot- not sure of the year (can’t read it in the digi pics I posted above, and the board is in my in-laws’ garage, where I work on boards. I’ll check personally and let you know).
I dug out and filled in the worst damage so far, but still have to glass-patch them. I’ll post pictures after the weekend if I make more progress.
I’m still unsure if I am going to rout the finbox or not. It is kinda solid, but I can definitely elicit some crackling if I provide pressure. I’m thinking a half re-seat (rout the sides, but don’y yank it… just re-setting it with RR epoxy and high density/impact filler). But I am definitely going to cap it because of the rot damage in front of the box and off to one side (in the shadow in the pic) and the cracking all around it.
I’ve got 3 fins to try out:
the third fin looks like the one , to me …
Quote:
the third fin looks like the one , to me …
That is the one I am leaning towards, as well.
GWS, a bonzer addic… er, I mean, afficianado… at -ER mag said he has a similar bonzer stubbie that slays barely-worth-it surf, and has been running a small cutaway in it until the waves get a bit more size, so I’ll likely be swapping all three fins within one session to have some fun figuring it out.
