With hulls spanning a waterline just under 50 feet, she ranks among the larger voyaging cats of her generation. The design was clearly intended for extended tropical cruising rather than weekend racing.
Design and Construction
The Voyage 500 measures 15.20 meters overall with an 8.30-meter beam and displaces 10.30 tonnes.
Voyage Yachts built her in South Africa with vacuum-bonded, closed-cell PVC foam cores in the hulls, decks, and cockpit biminis. The aim was to keep the displacement-to-length ratio low. The laminate schedule used quadraxial glass roving, vacuum-infused with vinyl ester or polyester resins.
The builder engineered a double-redundant hull-to-deck joint to absorb the high stresses of ocean passages. Inside, the hand-built cabinetry used ultra-lightweight foam-core wood, again to reduce overall weight. Together, these choices shed pounds where monohull construction might add them. That helps explain how a 50-foot catamaran of this beam could be rated for bluewater use without feeling sluggish.
Rig and Handling
The Voyage 500 carries a fractional sloop rig with a 20.00-meter mast and a 125-square-meter mainsail, or roughly 1,345 square feet.
The generous sail area relative to the boat’s modest displacement gives her the light-air responsiveness expected of a Simonis multihull. Twin 40-horsepower diesel engines provide the drivetrain. She remains a sailboat first, but the two engines add useful mechanical redundancy when docking and maneuvering a hull with a 27-foot beam in confined charter bases. The twin screws also allow a single handler to pivot her without drama.
Accommodations and Capacity
The Voyage 500 is listed with 10 cabins. That count reflects the design’s charter-market flexibility: the interior could be divided among multiple guest and crew spaces rather than arranged solely for one owner.
The many cabins, together with 800 liters of water and 500 liters of fuel, point to the boat’s intended roles as both a self-sufficient passage-maker and a bareboat charter platform.
The Verdict
The Voyage 500 is a purpose-built cruising catamaran that wears its charter pedigree openly. Light foam-core construction, a high sail-area-to-displacement ratio, and a redundant hull joint make her a credible ocean voyager within a 50-foot footprint. She’s less a bespoke owner’s yacht than a robust, configurable platform produced through 2009.
Pros
- Vacuum-bonded foam-core hulls and decks keep displacement low for the boat’s size
- Double-redundant hull-to-deck joint designed for passage-making stresses
- Twin 40-horsepower diesels help maneuver the 27-foot beam
- Large water and fuel capacities suit extended cruising
Cons
- The 10-cabin charter layout may not meet a single owner’s expectations for privacy
- Early foam-core construction requires careful surveying for moisture
