Man, I have seen so many great photos here, shaping room and otherwise, of bonzer bottoms that really do a good job of showing the concaves. Now that I’m trying to find a good one to show a shaper friend of mine I can’t find a single one.
Can some folks help me out here? As many examples as possible would be awesome. I remember the old bonzer three magazine ad and shipman’s shaping room shots in particular.
Hey shwuz, take a look over there:
I don’t think the concaves are really that important, the last one I made had belly to just in front of the fins with deep double concaves to flat with very little Vee. It goes as good or better than any of my other Bonzers perhaps more versatile. I have a feeling I posted a diagram last year with all the depths for a MC 7’6". I think it was 3/8" between the fins. If you can’t find it PM me and I’ll pop out to the shed. I’m resting my back right now.
Here’s a shot of mine. Concaves not as deep as a Campbell Bros or Bing. Theory is they work better in East Coast type surf. Seems to be true…
Yo Burnsie,
If you don’t think the concaves are that important why not make a, so called,Bonzer without any? I think you’ll find that the double concaved tail section is a critical part of the Bonzer’s functional integrity. It is in fact the very essence of what make the board surf as it does. There are of course many variations on the theme.
For me it the one without a center fin that Mike Eaton coined a “Zinger”. In some ways it’s an ultimate performance set-up after my recent experiences with it. I just finished a project collaborating with Nick Palandrani of Source Surfboards on a 6’8" Zinger that is a very wide egg shape. The board is a break through IMHO. It does very well in waist to head high surf as it is quite easy to find the power of the wave with it. It’s clear to me that it will handle much bigger surf at is projects beautifully, will surf top to bottom nicely, drives through foam very well and flies on a high line. I’ve surfed it and been completely covered twice on the same wave and made both sections. It bottom turns and release with ease. I felt the zinger runners working big time. So see it really perform I lent it to one our local hot screwfoot, Kevin Miske. He really put on a show on his first session at what we call here “The Wild Hook” 
> can’t wait to see him as the new south swell fills in this week.
Specs: 6’8"x18"x22.75"x16"x3.5" wide point 2" forward, board weight 9.5 pounds with fins in board.
Slightly stepped deck with rolled entry, double concave reverse vee tail contour. New generation FCS fin system. Marko stringerles 1.9 oz. foam blank ~ Cross hatched double 6oz shell with Resin Research epoxy. Blank spackled and color shot on with acyrilc paint.
The fins are my creation of coarse. The lead fins are set at 22.5 degrees and have a 7 in base. The trailers are set a 2 degrees and are 5.25" deep. Templates and foils were created just for this board.
Photos were taken when the board was completed. I trust they’ll be available soon.
No Worries, Rich
Just for the record the “Zinger” was my “baby”. I was shaping for Eaton and Will Jobsen was showing off his Twinzers and I had a middle of the night “brain fart”,DUH, twin fin bonzer! The name “Zinger” was from a herb tea I used to sell in a natural food store “Red hot Zinger”.
Also for what its worth I have continued my “multi-fin madness” and do not use concaves in my current evolutions. The negatives of the deep channels are out weighed by the positives of “fin channeling”. Thus allowing bottom contours that really flow together…
Did you want retro ?
That’s Russ Short’s old personal if I remember rightly. Got it from the Campbell Bros. website but it doesn’t seem to be there anymore.
That’s how I got drawn into these forums actually- researching the Bonzer about 5 yrs. ago because I wanted to get one made and you never see them down here, esp. not then.
I did have just about every thread and photo about bonzers ever committed to the 'net on file , once, but the 'pooter got a virus and I lost most of 'em.
Is it artistic or more technical pics you’re after? An MC is such a rare find here that when I finally did get to meet an owner of one I made sure to get comprehensive photos of the hull shape using a straight edge.PM me yr email if that’s what you’re after and we’ll see about sending you some.It’s a mid 90’s 5 fin , fun boardish thing, but the contours are a perfect match to the little late model performance chip I saw at the Aussie fish fry, and burnsie’s diagram.
hey rich,
was kevin surfing that board yesterday @ the hook? i walked up to the rail to check the surf and kevin was getting a really nice ride and i noticed the he was on a different board… he’s usually on a ST macfish.
Yo Ace,
My bad ~ Thanx for settin’ the record straight!
No Worries, Rich
Yo Tommy,
Yep that was Kevin on the Zinger that Nick and I call the
“Traduttore” which means translator in English.
Kevin will have the board for a little while longer for obvious reasons. Darshawn, Chappy and Noi are in line to ride it. We’ll see what they have to say. It’s a little wide for my short legged frame and bum-hip so next time around Nick and I will go for a little more age appropriate stick for me ~ probably 7’5"x21.5" or so.
I’ll be down at “The Wild Hook” this after noon mate so let me know if you want to give it a test ride mate?
No Worries, Rich
ACE has some good commentary on bottoms.
I’ve been looking at this for #4…thinking a bumblebee.
Knew I had it somewhere …
Rob Ollige’s
Didn’t you get any shots of your tricked-out Bumblebee ? : )