Rayglass Legend 650 restoration project - Nauti Buoy

Auckland local and recent retiree, Greg Hunt, had just bought a new home in Mangawhai and teed up his dream retirement, when he realised something was missing. 

He needed a boat to go fishing in. 

Greg wanted the best boat money could buy, but after shelling out for a new home he decided to save a bit on the purchase and look for used vessels. He’d just started his search when he found it - a beautiful and affordable 2000 model Rayglass Legend 650.

The problem with old boats

Despite the great price, Greg says he still wasn’t quite sold on the boat. It was over 20 years old, with scratched and faded gel coat, ripped upholstery, and severely weathered teak:

“The whole package wasn’t quite right and I just couldn’t get my head around the amount of work that it needed. I had just about given up on the boat when I thought to give Rayglass a call to see if they knew anyone who could restore the boat.”

We told Greg we knew a guy who had a bit of experience restoring Rayglass vessels, and passed him on to the head of our service department, Tony Yurjevic.

“They put me on to Tony who was brilliant. He gave me an indication of price to fix up the gel coat and the teak and a few other things which didn’t scare me off, so I went for it,” Greg said. 

Restoring the Legend

After Greg gave us the go-ahead, he brought his boat in. Tony and Greg wrote a wishlist of things to fix, and things to leave, then we sent him a quote for the work:

“Tony made this bit easy. He was really honest and talked about what was good to do, and what stuff I could probably leave. When I got the quote, I was very happy that it came in under my budget.”

At this stage, it was time to start the work. We had a fairly large list of things to do, including:

• Applying brand-new graphics. 
• Installing a brand-new drum winch for the anchor. 
• Fitting new upholstery.
• Installing new clears. 
• Refurbishing teak and stainless steel.
• Acid-washing, cleaning, cutting, polishing & waxing the hull. 

We could tell Greg was keen to get his boat back and get out on the water, so we kept him in the loop while we got underway:

“Tony kept me updated with photos and fully informed because, to be honest, I wanted the boat back yesterday. Rayglass gave me the option to come and check on the progress, which I did.”

Time to get out on the water

When we finished the vessel, we gave Greg a call and he came in right away:

“The boat looked beautiful, I was an extremely happy camper. We were able to make a 20-year-old boat look brand-new. Plus, there was a good ethos and a good feeling at Rayglass. A senior guy even came up and said ‘I remember putting these boats out and building them 20 years ago’,” Greg said.

Giving refurbished boats back to happy customers has got to be one of the best parts of our job, and we were stoked that we were able to help Greg put the cherry on top of his recent retirement: 

“I wouldn’t have bought the boat if I didn’t speak to Rayglass, it was just too much work. But I’m glad I did because it ended up being a really easy way to get into a beautiful boat without spending too much. I reckon this is a good option for anyone who thinks a Rayglass is out of reach.”

Since the refurbishment, Greg’s battled with the cold winter weather and spent about 10 hours out on the water. He tells us he’s looking forward to spending a lot more time on the boat - reeling in some big snapper come summertime. 

So are we Greg!

If you’re keen to breathe some life into an old Rayglass vessel like Greg did, get in touch with the Rayglass service team to find out more.