Bringing an epic retro Rayglass back to life

Tim Tsoumas, Rayglass’ refit manager, gets excited every time a new vessel rolls in the factory door. But recently he’s been fizzing even more than usual over a retro Rayglass 470 that needed a lot of work. 

This little pocket rocket came to Tim and his team in poor condition, but after they got their hands on her she looked better than new. We had a chat to Tim about the journey of bringing her back to life. 

Introducing the Rayglass 470

The owner of the Rayglass 470 had been looking for one of these little vessels for a while, according to Tim:

“The owner had been hunting for one for two or three years. When he found this one he reckons he paid about five grand too much but he had to have it.”

“He knows his boats though. He’s an ex-maritime policeman, absolutely lovely guy with two young teenage boys.”

When Tim and his team finally got their hands on this little beauty they noticed a few things that were off about the vessel. For one, it was almost impossible to move:

“I just about did my back trying to lift the thing. Then I had a look inside and realised someone had installed a removable bit of flooring that wasn’t waterproofed and over the years it’d just filled up with water”

The water had flowed over the stringers and gone throughout the vessel causing damage to almost every piece of its internal hull. The old owners had even chucked a sack of lead weights in the anchor locker to help the vessel get on plane while full of water!

Fixing her up from the inside out

To restore her to her former glory  Tim went to extreme lengths, drilling holes in the floor and stringers and jacking her up to drain all the water out:

“I have a mate down the road who has an automotive panel and paint shop. I even took her there and gave her a round in one of his car ovens to help drain her out!”

After weeks in front of fans and heaters with the floor off, she was dry and Tim and his team were ready to start repairing and refurbishing:

“We grinded out the whole inside of the boat, cut new stringers, put in a new floor, new carpet, new upholstery, new wiring and fixed the trailer. Just about everything really!”

The old owner had also damaged the keel running her ashore so the team got stuck in there too:

“We wet sanded the boat back, cut and polished her for days and applied a new gel coat to the keel. Then we went for something super modern with her graphics.”

You deserve it!

Before the vessel could be finished her owner sadly had to leave the country for a family bereavement. Tim took the time to make sure she was absolutely perfect:

“I knew he’d love it when I took her out for a sea test. She looks incredible and handles like a little MX5 sports car. So responsive and agile, she just pops out of the water, planes and goes like an absolute rocket.”

When the client came in Tim adds that his reaction was gold:

“He just said, I knew it’d be good but you’ve blown away my expectations. I’m absolutely speechless. I hugged him and said, you’re a good bugger - you deserve it.”

Now that our client has his vessel he’s decided to try something a little different and resigned from his job so he can spend as much time as possible with his family and out on the water with his teenage sons. When he called the other day Tim reckoned it sounded like he was having an awesome time:

“I reckon he’ll definitely be using it heaps, it’s just awesome to see and he’s obviously been telling his mates because I’ve already had a call from one of them asking us to fix up his old 620!”

 

Are you keen to give your old boat a new lease on life? Get in touch with Rayglass’ premium restoration team to get started.