just picked up a 6ft stub bonzer, fun looking board just havent surfed it yet. my question is how do bonzers perform in small waves? I hear they are more suited for larger hollow waves. I love the template of the board -kind of fishy. So with the five fin boxes can i mix it up? twinzer or keel setup for smaller days?
Most bonzers I have seen the Side bites are glassed . I didnt know they made a fin system for bonzer side bites. I would assum with the bigger pivot fin it could be used in smaller surf . But since u said it has 5 fin boxes you could probally but you would have to get differnt fins depending on what u wanna ride it as ( twin , Quad , Ect>)
a properly designed bonzer will work in anything...i've never had an issue w/ my bonzers under-performing in crap surf. i had a 5'10" stubby that was fantastic in chest-high & below...but any half-decent design will work well in good waves. i'd like to see pics of this...i have a feeling you may not actually have a bonzer... but lok-box, fcs, & red-x all make removable fins for bonzers. in my discussions w/ bonzer shapers, they all recommend staying away from them, as they force an unnatural positioning of the runners in relation to the concaves, & that positioning is what really makes a good bonzer shine.
i have two bonzers i got shaped by malcolm campbell and ordered them from him over the phone.they have puzzled me,they work in a way,but other times i felt like i wasted surfs.my new shaper doesn't like them.cult following,awesome concept,i'm just not sure they work but on certain days when anything would
A bonzer refers to the bottom design and fin setup, and can be applied to most any template. They excel in large surf because they like to be surfed on the rail. So how they perform in small waves depends on how much you put it on the rail, because it's not going to surf much better than any other board unless it is. Bonzer bottoms work best with the bonzer side runners... I don't think you'll improve on the performance of the board running it as a twinzer or keel. The cant is pretty extreme (18 degrees minimum), so you need a low aspect fin, or crazy things might start to happen with drag and lift. Plus, the deeper fin becomes pretty useless in terms of what the side runners are intended for, which is to become an extension of the concave. Like 42 suggested... if the fins are not located along the edge of the concave, you really don't have a true Bonzer bottom.
thanks for the imputs guys. the board is a mayo stub bonzer, 5 fin lokbox (will try to post some pics). now for the center fin placement, a 1/4 in. or even with the trailing edge of side fin? I know it probably varies from surfer, but just to get an idea, everyone has that sweetspot. thanks.
Yep... that's about it. As with other fin cluster arrangements, overlapping a bit will make it looser; spreading it out will give it more drive. Also... the bigger the center fin, the further forward you want to put it.
Reviving an old thread... I have a ci ft knox that I love when the waves turn on. I am thinking about going all in and drinking the Bonzer kool-aid. Anyone have any experience with the NC/VA locally shaped bozers? Can anyone recommend someone around here to shape it? Trying to avoid getting a West Coast board but if I have to bite the bullet I will. Thanks.
A lot of different versions of Bonzer bottoms in the 3 and five-fin designs, with the Campbell brothers' design being the original...and even that one's gone through changes. To read the Campbells' theory, you're redirecting water to the single fin and improving hold (sort of like a canard). Personally, I think the stories of them only liking bigger, hollow waves is based on the era's quintessential single-fin board design that the original Bonzer fins were placed on. Those boards held a straight line and purely used the wave's power for speed. LB mentioned the channels and they have evolved. At the same time, the planshapes and "v" found in contemporary tails are more geared towards the surfer generating speed by transitioning rail to rail. Malcom uses contemporary designs (fish, egg, hp) in some of his Bonzer models. Others do as well. I think it creates some confusion in "what a Bonzer is suited for". My humble opinion is that the fins of the new Bonzers are part of the equation. In the end...it's all about the amount of hold and release designed into the board...regardless of the number of fins. Just my opinion.
