My first boat report; I also posted on the Charter Boat Forum.

When I wrote the trip report it was 50° rain and wind; this morning it’s 28°! This is the Texas Gulf Coast!! DIF should not set in this quickly!

What a great yacht! As I suspected without a doubt the premier bareboat charter yacht in the BVI! (Yes, I know they now bareboat the 58…I don’t want to work that hard).

Voyage’s maintenance was top notch; it rivaled a professionally maintained private yacht in South Florida! Simply amazing for a bareboat in the ilons! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

General notes:

Big boat 50’ X 27’ beam but easy to handle; the shallow 4’ draft and two screws this far apart made it easy to walk on/off the dock. Step up on deck to the right of the helm for a good look if you’re going port too this is a very wide boat.

Upon further review no flag on the 240 gallons water; it seems that meets or beats the competition. If you have 8 adults + a cook on board you do have to monitor your water use. I have to give Voyage credit; it was the easiest to monitor and manage; but wouldn’t it be great to get more water on charter yachts?
The Electric Windlass made life simpler; in addition to the main it was so easy to deploy and recover the dink we put it in the cradle for every sail.

COCKPIT:

All the cool Ray Marine electronics and everything worked flawlessly throughout the trip; even the old spinning wheel knot meter (how often does that happen?)
Big Igloo 72 cooler under the cockpit table.
One flaw; didn’t have much luck with propane BBQ…I would have preferred charcoal.
The hard top bimini was a nice addition; no climbing around the struts on a canvas top; the custom drop down sun shades aft were the best!

FACILITIES:

We found an amazing amount of storage everywhere; on deck, the cockpit, main saloon and below.
All the standard amenities but this boat had so much more:
Ice maker, Sound System: CD player (with aux jack for your iPod) and Radio, Flat screen TV and DVD player, 1 Refrigerator and 2 Freezers, the cell was a nice touch and they gave me the number before the charter…all we did was “top up” the time.
Kimo’s briefing made the electrical switches generator to shore power and back a breeze.

Galley:

Without a doubt the best! That comes from our cook Beverly who has worked on Moorings charters for 7 years!
Microwave, electric coffer maker, blender, premium stove, 4 slice electric pop up toaster and an excellent small wares inventory.
Now for the icemaker; I’m in the icemaker business and didn’t expect much for the little 25# U-Line unit (we consider these low end home type systems). It worked to perfection; we only bought ice to cool the beer. Between the two freezers for storage and making boat drinks out of the U-Line it cut our ice bill by 10-15 bags!!
One flaw: the saloon refrigerator lost refrigeration; no big deal we lowered the temp on one of the freezers.

Dinghy:

Tons of Snorkel Gear on board; must have been 12 sets all different sizes.
The 15 hp 12 ft hard bottom dink could easily handle 10 people; the dink ladder was a welcome addition.

CABINS:

Four queen sized bunks, five bathrooms…and wait for it!!! ELECTRIC HEADS!!! You would have to really work to clog these baby’s!! The 5th head is in the companionway.

If you have four couples; the Voyage 500 is well worth the money.

MM <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

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