Meet Mahi: The Rayglass team’s most memorable Protector refit

Rayglass have refurbished hundreds, maybe thousands, of Protectors over the years but a vessel we recently rebuilt was one of our all time favourites. Mahi, an old 5.5 Protector came in looking worse for wear but Tim Tsomas, head of Rayglass’s refit department and his team, put in the mahi to bring it back to life. 

We had a chat with Tim to find out how he made Mahi look brand new and why his team were so fond of this special vessel. 

From wreck to rocket

When Tim saw Mahi parked out the back of Rayglass HQ for the first time he reckons he was a little apprehensive:

“I thought, hell’s teeth, what have I gotten myself into? Then when I towed it into the shop it squeaked and rattled and all the boys came out and asked - “what have you got there?!”

The vessel had flat tubes, nothing worked and it was a bit of a wreck but it was well worth saving. This Protector was an older model that’s no longer available and can be hard to find:

“This model is really rare so the owner wanted to take care of it and keep it for good. These boats are such weapons and I could tell this one could be a little rocket.”

What kind of boat would I want to build for my kids?

The owner of Mahi was a time-poor medical professional who was at times too busy to create a full brief for our refit team. So when Tim spoke to him he spent time finding out what the client wanted to do with the boat so that he could create his own brief:

“You have to sound them out and talk about the family and what they’re getting up to on the water. They’ve got two young boys so I put myself in their shoes and thought, what kind of boat would I want to build for my kids?”

The client uses the boat as a family-fun boat, for fishing, diving and watersports, tying it up at the beach house. That meant it had to be easy to use, simple, practical and reliable, with a few cool features hiding away. 

End result: Absolutely mint

Tim and his team started working on Mahi to get her looking brand new and she quickly polished up. They added a custom engine box with two seats and a fixed storage compartment so that both boys had their own place to sit. 

They also added a chilly bin seat, brand new dash and electronics, fusion sound system, dive bottle holders, custom bait board and a brand new 115 Mercury Outboard. To finish it off we installed premium SeaDek flooring which gave the vessel a classy look. Tim adds that every time they’d add one feature they’d think of something else the client would enjoy:

“These boats aren’t run of the mill. We’re getting creative and saying it’d be cool to do this, let’s add this and it all flows into the boat.”

When the team had finally finished the refurb they topped it all off by adding new custom 550 Chase graphics:

“The end result is absolutely mint. It’s all colour matched and seamless, it almost looks like a naval boat. After you’ve stripped, scrubbed, resurfaced, repaired and spent this much time with a boat it’s sad to see it go but just awesome to see the results.”

Keen on giving your old boat a new lease on life? Get in touch with our premium restoration department to book in your slot before summer.