In the beginning

In 1981 my wife to be and I finished a Hughes 31 fiberglass hull, and cruised the BC coast; in 1986, we finshed the interior of a 39ft steel hull, sailed to Hawaii and honeymooned through a couple islands. Then life happened - two kids and jobs taking us across Canada separated us from ocean capable boats. But going offshore in dependable boats was in our blood, and the vision of sailing to Tahiti just wouldn't die - so in 2001 we began building the hull that will finally do that - in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Construction continues today, in Campbell River BC - so we might not be in Tahiti yet - but we're getting closer!!

March 2018 update - came across Indonesia and the Indian Ocean late 2017, stopped at the top of Madagascar for a couple weeks, then ran down the Mozembeq channel and rounded Africa in Dec. It was a busy time, and DreamCatcher performed superbly under a wide range of conditions - saw white water to my knees at the mast in the Mozembeq, 200mile days in both Indian and Atlantic oceans, spent days under spinnaker working to keep my babe moving in very light winds.

Left Capetown mid Jan 2018, bouncing off St Helena and Fernando de Noronha islands as we ran up and across the Atlantic, landing in Barbados. Going to slow down now, and spend two seasons cruising the Caribbean before doing the Panama Canal. It’s an amazing life.

Nov 2016, Brisbane Australia.....not all that far from New Zealand! Spent bulk of the cruising season in Fiji, finishing with a pretty quick run through Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Boat doing great, still a stand out amongst the cruising fleet.
- if you want to keep up with our travel detail, look for Norm Facey on facebook - waaay easier to do updates with pics with marginal internet.

April 2016, Whangarei New Zealand aboard SV DreamCatcher....It still floats! Did Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti thru to Bora Bora, Cooks, Beverage Reef, Nuie, Tonga and then down to New Zealand. Boat is great - though I do wish I'd gone with unpainted aluminum from a maintenance perspective (find I have to go around monthly to deal with paint chips to keep her rust free).


I loved building, and enjoy telling people "we built this boat" - but take a good look at the price of used boats before you start..... consider boat hunting in the Caribbean, and just sail a nice solid boat downwind - can save 10 years of building!

The Design


Owner/builder: Norm Facey
Location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Boat: V495
Designer: Bruce Roberts

L.O.A. 15.04 m/49'-5"
L.W.L. 13.25 m/ 43'-5"
BEAM 4.47 m/ 14'-8"
DRAFT 1.98 m/ 6'-6"*

We're building a 50 ft steel hulled kit boat, designed and supplied by Bruce Roberts - a Voyager 495. It is a cutter rigged, center cockpit, aft cabin pilothose - that's a lot of words, but it is also a lot of boat. The interior layout is shown below.
- We're building the "B" version - short, deep keel, with a skegged rudder quite far aft.

Have secured a Perkins M90 marine diesel engine, will install two station hydraulic steering (cockpit & inside), a propane oven, and of course, Wili's bathtub. Though the layout above shows three bathrooms (heads), we'll likely condense the forward two together, and add a closet/drawers for the forward v-berth.



Why Steel?
- This boat is being built with the intent to head offshore again. The hull has huge strength, and the components installed will be with an eye to being hit by green water. A steel hull at sea brings great confidence - when you see a storm coming, there is no question that the boat is going to come out of it - all you have to do is hang on.
- a pre-cut steel kit is faster/easier to assemble than a built from scratch fiberglass hull, and there are no questions on how to do the hull to deck joint.
- aluminum is more expensive, and while it has less salt water corrosion issues, there are far greater galvanic problems - there are lots of aluminum hulls around Vancouver, and many of them suffer abnormal attacks due to stray current/different metals that don't even originate on that boat. Also believe steel to be easier to repair in remote locations - stick welding is common, and I'll even have my own on board alternator/welder.

Why Roberts?
- despite all the critics, Roberts has been around for a long time, primarily supplying and supporting home building; I have enjoyed great response for over 10 years.
- Examples of his designs are everywhere, and do survive sailing the world. His boat designs are conservative, but have progressed with technology into some good looking cruising hulls.
- I love the way the V495 looks. To me, form follows function, and this hull is beautiful. I still walk away backwards after 10 years.

Why Cutter?
- using a cutter rig in combination with dual roller furlers means you're always ready with your most common sail configurations. The bulk of the time I expect to be sailing as a sloop, with an overlapping genoa. Occasionally we'll be looking for more sail area, so out comes both foresails; probably more often, we'll be reducing area, and after the first few rolls on the genoa, furling it fully and running off the staysail provides better balance.
- the cutter rig, in combination with a keel stepped mast, also reduces mast pumping at sea, without resorting to running stays.

Why Skeg/Narrower keel?
- We've had boats with deep fins/spade, moderate fin/skegged, and cut away full keel with attached rudder. By far the most stable, while still highly manuverable in tight quarters, was the fin keel/skegged rudder combo. I look forward to returning to that configuration.

Why pilothouse?
- BC coastal cruising has a lot of rain - and while you can use a good boat 12 months of the year, for at least 8 of those months you want a heated cabin to keep the ladies happy (read - in order to have them with you!). Slowly putting away thru a calm gentle snow brings a magic all it's own that's three times better if you can do it inside & warm.

Why the tub?
- Wili has only one demand to go away for extensive time on the boat - she needs hot bath to relax heading to bed. She's a tiny lady, and is happy with a 3 ft tub - so it's not a big request - how could I turn her down?

2 comments:

  1. where are you now Norm
    when will we see you
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNc-IyoKX-E

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  2. Hi there Norm. My name is Neill Barrell and I'm in Brisbane, Australia and about to buy a Voyager 495 named 'Midnight' that was professionally built in Sydney by McGregor Marine and fitted out by Andy Law. My email address is njbarrell@gmail.com. Would be great to correspond. I know BC well as my Brother in law lives there. This is the link to Midnight's details. https://www.boatsonline.com.au/boats-for-sale/used/sailing-boats/bruce-roberts-voyager-495/265103

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