OK, there is no swell and I have a blank so I am going to attempt shaping a Bumblebee Bonzer. It will be my seventh shaping project. I have read through so many posts here about bonzers and the bumblebee model that I need some Visine so it is time to just go for it. I have come up with the following order of steps and wanted to see if anyone sees any errors, and I have a couple of questions. I’ve attached a rough sketch for the template, and a crude drawing of a question I have about making an allowance for the center fin box.
Here goes:
Determine template dimensions and make template
6’ 4”
15.75 N
21.875 W
16.5 T
Thanks Schwuz for posting dims of a compsand Bumblebee!
Skin the blank and foil it.
Cut out template
Put in panel vee
Turn Rails
Mark fin placement (lots of good info on Sways, thanks!!!)
Draw out concave outlines in relation to fin placement.
Put in concaves (single to double)
Finishing touches and sanding
Questions:
Should I put the wide point fore or aft of center? If so, how much? Right now I have Wide and Mid point at same position.
How far up should the vee go and how deep?
Last question: When I put in the concaves, do I need to leave a flat spot in the middle to allow for the center fin box? This is the crude drawing on the second attachment.
If I can ever find my camera I’ll post some progress pics.
I don’t have a lot of answers for your questions , sorry , but I do have a few questions of my own , if you don’t mind …
it’s a little hard [with my eyesight]to tell from the drawing …is it a 5 or 3 fin ? [it looks a bit like it might be a 5 with the channel / concave near the side runner/s , yes?]
I would say you “may” have to have a "flat spot’ to put the box in ? […but maybe not?]
what size fin box are you using , and are the runners going to be lokbox , or finboxes , so you can play with them , or… would you consider making your own different fins ?
last questions …
what size are you ? [is 21 7/8" a bit wide?]
how thick will the board be ?
is it a polyurethane blank , or are you doing eps and epoxy ? [I don’t know if you are in america , or elsewhere ??]
what size and type of waves will you mainly be riding on it ?
okay enough kvestions for now from me …
again , good on you for making a bonzer !!
…I hope it ends up being a photo-filled “how to make a bonzer” thread !
Here are some answers - it will be a 5 fin. I’m planning on having a local guy make the side runners (wood) and they will be glass on (glassing by a shop, not me). One thing I need to research, are the side runners foiled - they look flat on each side and thin in photos. Maybe I can make them myself.
I’m 6’ 0" and 190 lbs, OLD, and the waves around here (North San Diego County) are generally on the small side but there are lots of different breaks, reefs, points, beaches.
On the width, I’m going from some dims I saw posted here, and my rough sketch looks pretty close to pics I’ve seen.
…after months of probing, searching and asking questions I finally found out that the single to double concave is in an hourglass shape (this info is from Malcolm Campbell). Single starts around the midpoint, rail to rail and then narrows in front of the fins where it transitions to the doubles. If you look at photos you will always see the doubles are toed in at the same angle as the fins, so where the double meets the single it’s farily narrow. Does that make sense? No photo I’ve seen shows this, although the hour glass shape is shown in the old drawing from a Bing ad in the 70’s.
Thanks llilibel. Yes, I’ve got the hourglass part down by looking at those ads, Eaton drawing etc. But you cleared up for me where the single starts and ends, about what I thought. I’m guessing the bottom is fairly flat in front of that. There is a GH bonzer at Mitch’s I hope to go review one more time before getting started.
Just thought I’d mentioned that the info I got was from TFAD (Tri Fins Are Dangerous) on the surfermag bb- aka John Paul St. Pierre of Moonlight Glassing They do most of the Campbell Brothers bonzers. He told me he got the aswer from Malcolm. I guess we can trust Malcolm’s input about bonzers.
I’ve been wanting to ask this for a while now and this seems like the perfect thread. What advantage do bonzers have compared to a thruster? Disadvantages? What about other fin configurations? Twinzers, Quads etc. Does anyone know of a site with that info? I’ve found some with different board designs, but none say much about the differences in actual riding and feel.
Hello Ted, I made a Bumblebee-inspired Bonzer 3 a few months ago, I’ve also shaped several other 3 and 5 fin Bonzers. They’re a difficult design to do properly, it’s a pretty complex bottom shape to get absolutely perfect. Since you’re in SD county I’d suggest going by the Moonlight Glassing showroom, you’d probably be able to check out several Malcolm bonzers up close. The single on the “official” Bonzers I’ve seen is pretty shallow, don’t get carried away and make it too deep! Also, your panel V isn’t that important as the peak between the double concaves is at the same level or even slightly below the level of the rails. I wouldn’t bother trying to shape a flat spot for your finbox, as you’ll want to grind your finbox to match the “spine” between the double concaves as closely as possible once it’s installed. Your 5-fin runners are flat on the inside and foiled on the outside, they’re pretty thin too. I lay mine up out of 18 layers of 6oz cloth, it seems to give about the right thickness. Do a search for “fantail bonzer” if you want to see my interpretation of the Bumblebee! They’re heaps of fun and will go in a huge vareity of waves, I’ve had mine out in everything from 2’ mushy pointbreak peelers to 6 foot grinding heaving reefbreak and it’s never let me down! Check the Bonzer blog to see some awesome photos of the Campbells surfing their original Bumblebees in some pretty heavy waves. Good luck!
Hey Acolyte and Lillibel, thanks for the extra tips. I was able to check out a couple of bonzers before getting started and it was very helpful. Yes, the single concave is very subtle.
I made my template, and have foiled the blank, and cut out the template. I don’t have any pics because I lost my camera. I’ll have to break down and buy a new one anyway so maybe I’ll get that done before take any more steps.
Found the camera! Bit of debate in the house about who misplaced it…
I’ve done a few steps and wanted to get some feedback. Here is the template I made out of doorskin, and the foiled and templated blank. I seems to me there may be a bit of a flat spot in the middle of the outline, but since it’s a 6’4", it’s pushing the limit of length for a bumblebee. I’ve been told by Moonlight the outline doesn’t work well past 6’6". Most of the Campbell Brothers pics and actual boards I’ve seen were in the 5’10" to 6’0" range so maybe that is why it looks a little different. Does anyone see any obvious changes the outline needs? I still have time to make some adjustments.
dang, now that I look at this pic I need a bit more work on that deck…
I’m really sorry…I know I shouldn’t sidetrack like this…but the Ole “Bumblebee” shape has been one of the world’s classic noseriders for more than 40 years…
Benny, maybe the Campbell Brothers called their’s a bumblebee because back in the day they cut down an Ole for a blank!
So far I have been to Home Depot and Lowes and they don’t carry the curved surform. But I want to find one because I did see that film clip on bonzerworld. I also have some large plastic pipes to make some curved sanding blocks.
you can get the curved sureform blades from your local auto body supply shop - along with good tape, feathering adhesive, metered buckets, sanding pads…
im sure you could find it on the internet somewhere also…
I’ll have to break down and buy a new one anyway so maybe I’ll get that done before take any more steps.
