I have a 6’9" CI single with with bonzerish concaves and i am going to convert it to a full on 5 finner. I have seen all of the lokbox conversions out there and they are beautiful when finished. My only problem is that living in new jersey i do not have direct access to any lokbox boxes nor bonzer fins, and to be honest i find the pricing for the whole setup to be a little steep. I mean to get all five fins and four boxes from rainbow fins will cost me $161 without shipping. I can just as easily make four fins and glass them on and just buy the center fin. My only issue with this is I have an orange pigmented bottom and I dont want my glass job to look like crap on the bottom. Does anyone have experience with glassing on bonzer fins to an already completed board, any tips to go along with it? I also would like to complete the project soon becuase I am impatient and want to ride a bonzer. Any help would be much obliged…
P.S. JOSHMOSH what is your blank situation looking like? you going to be ordering any? let me know.
you can glass the fins on just like you would normally…as long as you’re good with a grinder it will look fine, just use clear resin all around and you wont have any issue with the color being weird…itll still be orange.
the ONLY thing i would say about glassing them on is this:
bonzer fins (even the long runner types) are a BITCH to glass on…it is NOT fun, nor is it easy…its very possible, but it is a heck of alot more work than it looks like.
i say glass 'em. i love riding a board with glassed on fins…soooo smooth. i find bonzer runners to be a bit tougher, mainly because of the extreme fin cant. but give it a shot…you’ll manage.
I think Bonzer glass ons would be sweet. If you do make some and like them could you make an extra set. I will send you some scrap orange silk with a funky flower pattern and some aboriginal artist bands in orange that was hand crafted by Udin Bampa of Pekalongan in the Silat Straights. Udin’s work is not as good as Bapa from Cirebon but I don’t have any of his work in orange for your orange bonzer side fins Udin’s will suffice. How many bonzer fins can you make with a 2’ x 5’ piece of cloth.
hmm. maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but I recall a discussion of (I think it was Mike Eatons’) bonzer runners being installed by routing angled slots in the glass and then glueing them in, with hot glue as I recall. Solves a lot of problems with sanding, etc. And if need be they can be removed with a hot wire, something to that effect.
That way you’d only have to glass on the center fin, no big deal…
when i was working at the channin factory, almost all of eatons bonzers had the runners set in with hot glue(make sure you seal everything.) they were made of plexiglass too. no need to go super hi-tech on this.
i would try it this way, see if you like it, then worry about the glass on/box issue after you decide whether you like the bonzer feel or not.
i’ve always been concerned with the idea of digging glass-on fins into the foam. i just have this image in my head of someone stepping on the board and snapping the fins down and into the foam…would make for a really bad mess. then again, i have a tendency to worry about things that will never happen…i get it from my grandmother.
All of this feedback is good, I decided that I am going to attempt to glass them on. I made my fin templates tonite and i think i am going to go with the routered idea, it seems that you would be able to get better adhesion and minimal movement in layup doing this. But this then leaves another question. I need to know exactly where to place the fins and at what degree and cant should i install them. I know lokbox put up a diagram about this a while ago, but now it wont let me see the picture, i guess the thread is too old. If anyone has this info it would be greatly appreciated if they shared:-) I am hoping that I will be able to finish this conversion this weekend becuase it is supposed to be nice and the waves should cooperate for a good session come monday at the latest. Thanks for all the input.
I’ve done several Bonzer glass-on setups, it’s really not all that difficult. If you want to preserve your orange tint, I think that going down into the foam is probably not a good idea. Just sand through the hotcoat until you get to where you’re barely hitting weave but not enough to alter the color, this could be really touchy so it’s probably best to use a grinder just to get through the hotcoat and finish it up by hand. I just did this on a board with a green and white resin swirl bottom, it’s really not that difficult if you are careful and take your time. I’ve found the best way to get your Bonzer runners on is to use a really thick high-quality cyanoacrylate glue, better known as superglue. You can get some from any shop that sells model building supplies, it comes in several formulas but you want the really thick, gel-like stuff. Once you have your fin dots on the board, make yourself a fin angle template and run a bead of CA along the bottom of the fin, press it carefully into place and set your angle, and in about 45 seconds you’ll have the fin sitting there solidly! I usually use 2 layers of 6oz on the inside of the fin and just a single layer on the outside, as it fits into the angle between the fin and the bottom of the board a bit better, plus 3-4 strands of 6oz roving around the base of the fin. Just of the top of my head, the fin setup for a Bonzer 5 is-rear of back runners 10-11" from the tail depending on the length of the board, 1.5" in from the rail and toed in 1/4". Front runners set over towards the rail 1.5" from the tip of the rear runner, toed in 1/4" also. Keep in mind that the front runners are smaller than the rear. The runners are usually canted between 21-25 degrees on the modern Bonzers. The rear of the center fin should be 5 1/4-5 1/2 from the tail. Good luck, I’m sure you’ll be stoked on the Bonzer!
In jersey i have helped glass on bonzers fins and i have helped install lok box. I say lok box pretty easy compared to the frustration of glassing them on. the adjustability and removeablity is such a bonus.
Forgot to mention-if you go through to the foam, DON’T use CA glue because it’ll probably melt the foam. Glass-on runners really aren’t that difficult, plus it’s heaps cheaper than a fin system, so go for it!
So i completed my bonzer fins last nite. They came out pretty well and I cant wait to get them on the board. I will post pics later as I am still at work. Anyway, some more questions have arisen that i cant seem to find a solid answer for. First off, How much toe-in do you normally use when laying up your bonzers. On thrusters i normally go right to the nose, but this is a lot different. Next, where exactly are they supposed to go on the board. I remember JJR posted a link about this a long time ago but I cant seem to find it. And finally, are you glassing all four fins up at once, or are you doing one on each side, letting it set, and then doing the other two. Let me know your takes, and i will provide pics of my butchering soon enough.
back edge of the bac fin is 10 1/2 inches form the tail and both trailing edges of the fins are 1 and 1/2 inches from the rail, toed in 1/4 of an inch, however i don’t know the overlap.
Here’s a couple thousand words worth of pictures. Note the cardboard angle-setting jig on the tail. The way I did it was to lay out the tape as shown, put the base of the fins on the fin location marks, hold them against the jig to get the angle, then apply the tape over the top of the fin and over the rail. Once you get all four up, go around and fine-tune the placements and angle. I spent a good 45 minutes getting the fins “perfect” on this, my first bonzer, before tacking them down with a few drops of lam resin.
