okay, D Henry…sorry, I forgot to answer your question…
“What I’ve learnt so far” making a ‘Bonzer’
A stringerless blank needs to be well supported underneath / bricks on top to stop it ‘springing around’ when cutting out, planing and sanding blocking it
Next time I would round the concaves to make it easier on myself when laminating them . [small brushes are also handy for getting the resin in the ‘tight’ spots]
I would in future mask off the deck and bottom when spraying the shaped blank different colours on each side
if , like me, you’re flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to laminating concaves that are quite deep , I personally would DEFINATELY go with mixing a small batch of resin, and concentrate on getting them good first.
um…that’s all I can think of for now…maybe if anyone has any questions, that will jog my memory ?
cheers !
ben
[ oh, and : -
using the planer for the " rail bands " was a good move.]
depending how the ones on THIS board go, I may or may not extend the concaves further forward from the side runners, too …
Kate, one of Hicksy’s three girls, was out fruit and vegi shopping with dad, walked past some pineapples , pointed to the leaves and said , " look, that looks like Ben’s board ! "
The board will forever be known as “the pineapple” from this point on…
here’s why …
deck view
[with apologies to hackysacky…]
So, still to come…
further wet and dry sanding of deck , rails, and bottom.
LOL. No apologies needed! Gotta protect the mug from those photoshoppin’ devils, ya know! Show yer face, next thing you know there is “evidence” of you romancin’ a goat all over the innernet [sic]
Way to go chip for keepin this post alive. After some procrastination I am about done with my blank. I really want to do a resin swirl on it but will have to wait a week to get paid and buy resin. I did the concaves with a two liter soda bottle with foam taped to it and 40 grit wraped around. I also had a regular coke can. If you buy the soda and shake it up a bunch the pressure gives you pretty even cuts. Anyway, the board is 5’7" x 20" x ? (not sure on thickness)
I’d love to see your ‘non canyon’ [ haha I love it, Shwuz…funny, but true at the same time !!] concaves… but unfortunately, they’re not showing up on my screen . Anyone else have this problem, or is it just my computer ?
hack, good to see you ‘lurk’ here …I thought you did…eegads the goat thing’s a bit scary !
Well, today and tomorrow are supposed to be 38-40 degrees C [100 f on the very old scale]…so , it’s time for me to pretend to be a dolphin for the next two days at least …Grant’s shed / garage would be around oh 110 + degrees on days like that…
Thanks heaps, Grant , for the use of your workspace and fridge and house for the day, and for taking these photos. Get well VERY soon mate …your 9’4 ‘gun’ looks GREAT !!
Present and accounted, cap’n chipfish! I’ve become a bit of a lurker as of late. My mindset for the last few months has been to be an information collector and question-asker more than regurgitator if I know a resident expert is checking in and likely to contribute (unless I see someone is about to make a mistake in the next few minutes and by opening my mouth I might help prevent a disaster ).
Would babble more, but the wifey is waiting with a bowl of ice-cream for me!
Lets hope this works. My computer has been taking a shit on me so lets see if it works. I am making runners out of marine ply with 7" base (this is a little smalleer than most bonzers but I figured I needed to compensate for such a short board since it is only 5’ 7" Has anyone used a smaller more shortboard style box fin for the back of a bonzer?
‘… I am making runners out of marine ply with 7" base (this is a little smaller than most bonzers but I figured I needed to compensate for such a short board since it is only 5’ 7" ) . Has anyone used a smaller more shortboard style box fin for the back of a bonzer?
hi skeletor …thanks heaps for those…you must be saving those shots as ‘bitmap’ are you ? [because I tried to reproduce them on this post…no picture]
YOUR concaves look good ! Interesting we both went fairly ‘egg shaped’ in our outlines.
I HAVE used a thruster sized back fin in my 5’11 fish , with FOUR small front fibreglass runners. The board has a flat bottom, and the runners had no ‘cant’ [tilt] …but it felt fast , and loose, to me… on the waves I had on it.
My fin setup will be the opposite to yours…smaller front runners [from 3 1/2 - 6" base ] with a 7"-8" back fin . I figure[d] if I can cant my EXISTING runners for a fins unlimited type finbox setup, I can also use them on my 5’9 diamond tail as side fins !
Or, if I F.C.S. plug and build tilt into them, I can use them in the ‘Fish’ [ Now I wish I had double concaved the bottom of THAT !!]
Has anyone here ridden a bonzer-bottomed FISH ? [ie: with a DEEP split tail, as opposed to a narrow/shallow swallow tailed thruster ?]
I used to have a 6’6" T&C round pin that was shaped by their main Florida shaper (don’t know his name) It had bonzer style concaves with a normal thruster set up with more cant than normal (but still less than a traditional bonzer) The board was by far the best perfoming board I have ever had for fast barreling waves. It held a little too much unless it was heaving though
Was that board you mentioned fairly 'stiff ’ off the bottom at times ? How did it feel off the lip , especially backhand…were you able to pivot it easily, or not ?
My " Bonzer Bottom Single Fin "…
…may have been a similar feeling, perhaps. It held in up high under the lip going straight across the face. At times off the bottom , especially backhand, it seemed to want to draw it’s own line. This is the reason I went with a shorter length of concave on this board. I wanted to be able to feel a difference more underneath my feet [I tend to surf off the tail a fair bit, a legacy from my single fin riding, I think ]
I’m also keen to play around with different size, placement and cant of the side runners, and different sizes and templates of the back fin from time to time [as per the Campbell’s website photos], to discover for myself the different feeling[strike] the options give.
That is one sick bottom, I have a pic of a pavel bonzer bottom…yours is just about as exact as it gets.His was a round pin and yours a swallow(+ e-wing…) being the only difference. Nice work, please let us know how it goes. Is it going to be a 5 finner?? Thanks…have fun…
*are the chines from the e-wing forward to the nose???
).
