Meet Tim: One of the legends behind our premium restoration department

Rayglass’s premium restoration department is growing fast. Due to high demand, our team has hired new staff, arranged new premises and worked a fair few long weeks.

One of our new hires is a fella named Tim Tsoumas who brings with him 30+ years of experience in fixing, fiddling and renovating. 

Meet Tim Tsoumas

Tim’s a born and bred Aucklander with a wife and two kids. When he’s not refurbishing boats at Rayglass, he’s fishing, diving, gardening and tinkering with stuff. It’s fair to say that he’s pretty good with his hands too - Tim’s building his 16 year old son a centre console boat for his birthday this year. 

“I’ve got about 30 years of experience in the automotive industry. I ran a top Auckland transmission shop for about 22 years and have been a member of the International Torque Converter Rebuilding Association on the Technical Committee, I’ve also been involved in the research and development “re-inventing the wheel” within the drag racing scene for a while as well,” Tim said.

As well as that, Tim’s worked in marketing and sales for Mercedes-Benz and AB Marine Services in the city. 

He's on the right in the image up top and the rest of the experienced restoration team are to his left including James, Khalid and Matt.

Cut and polish Rayglass Boats

The Rayglass difference

When we do something here at Rayglass, we do it right. We’re details and quality obsessed. That’s probably why we’re the boat of choice for the America’s Cup, Coastguard NZ, Sail GP and countless other high performing international organisations.

It’s also why Tim seems to fit in so well here - he’s a details man through and through:

“The other day, we stuck a straight line of griptread to a bow. I looked at it and thought ‘nah, that doesn’t look right’, so I shaped the tread so that it followed the line of the bow,” Tim said.

“It’s all about having an eye for the really small details and making sure our work looks factory original and slick. It takes more time but it makes all the difference.”

That means our customers can get another 10, 15 or 20 years of life and enjoyment out of an old boat by making it look, feel and work as good as new. Or, Tim says they can save money by buying an older vessel second hand and refurbishing it:

“Give your boat a bit of love and it’ll serve you well. Once they’re refurbished, they’re pretty close to brand new, and when you go out on the water, you’ll know everything will work first time.”

The new premium refurbishment department

Our premium refurbishment department is all about giving older boats a new lease on life by renovating them to the high standards that Rayglass is known for. To get the job done, we’ve taken on new premises which Tim’s currently in the middle of preparing:

“We’re rearranging this new warehouse to get it ready for refurbishment. We’re really busy as well, lots of work. We even have one boat at the moment with an interesting story behind it,” Tim says. 

“Our customer saw the boat that his father bought 15 odd years ago on TradeMe and bought it. We’re cutting and polishing, adding new marine decking - getting it back to as-new condition.”

Rayglass’s premium refurbishment department can handle any boat renovation, regardless of the size, brand or type of boat:

“We do anything our clients want, but usually that means getting older boats looking and feeling brand new. Lots of cutting and polishing, repairing chips, fixing gel coats, modifying gear, adding electronics - anything you could ask for,” Tim said.

America's Cup Rayglass fleet ready for refitting

Rayglass’s most important restoration 

Tim’s hit the ground running and one of his first major jobs will be the complete refurbishment of 22 Rayglass Protectors that were used for the America’s Cup and are being repurposed for Coastguard NZ:

“Sam will pick up the first four soon and then we'll get cracking. It's a big job so we'll be at it for while,” Tim said. 

This isn’t a simple refurbishment job either. Tim says they’ll be gutting the boats and adding a total of 42 new features:

“They’re getting new side windows, lights, electronics, monitors, radio equipment, lots of storage, additional batteries, a seawater pump and generator, stretcher holders and much more.” 

That’s not all though. Each refurbishment is different and some Coastguard units have special requirements. 

“Some need to fit their boats into a low garage so we’re making everything on top foldable, including towers. Each boat is a little different.”

All this is happening alongside the premium restoration departments considerable workload of regular clients. But it sounds like Tim wouldn’t have it any other way:

“I’m hands-on, practical, logical. This is what I love doing.”

Have you got an older vessel that could do with a refurbishment - or just a cut and polish? Get in touch with our premium restoration department today.