Slime to divine
An enterprising owner, working in conjunction with Rayglass’ Service Centre team, has seen an old, neglected Rayglass 2500 transformed into a ‘good as new’ family cruiser in just three weeks.
Refurbished Rayglass – it’s amazing what a bit of polish can do to restore a little life in a boat.
Thames man James Moore had long wanted to own a Rayglass 2500 to replace Limitless, the 1998 Rayglass 730 he used to own. After discussions with Rayglass service manager Tony Yurjevic, he decided he’d find and purchase a slightly tired, older model and have Tony and his team undertake a modest refurbishment to bring it up to spec.
Finding a suitable 2500 proved a lot harder than he anticipated, but after much searching, he eventually discovered one in a corner of a Tauranga dealer’s yard. It had been there for more than a year and was completely covered in a nauseating green slime.
Undeterred, and realising that his modest do-over was now likely to be considerably more major, he and Tony made a plan.
James started by cleaning out the boat and removing that unsightly slime. All stainless-steel fittings were removed and, in the service centre, the gelcoat was subjected to what has been described as the “hardest cut and polish possible”.
“The result was remarkable,” says James. “The boat looked like she had just popped straight from the mould.”
An engine check and service on the 2500’s 350 Magnum identified the need for a new heat exchanger. The existing electronics were removed and replaced with a Simrad suite including a 16-inch MFD, a 4G radar, a 1kw through-hull transducer and another for the Structurescan.
The boat looked like she had just popped straight from the mould.
Underwater lights were added and Seadek installed throughout. New rails were fitted, a 70-litre Icy-tek chilly bin and dinghy davits added – to launch and retrieve a new Rayglass dinghy.
While the teak gunwales were being refurbished, James was busy cleaning and refreshing both the upholstery and the 2500’s trailer. The final touch was the addition of a striking new graphics package and the restored cruiser’s new name: II Limitless.
With James and his family on board, II Limitless is now cruising the Firth of Thames and the waters around Whitianga, the slime-to-divine transformation complete.