Welcome to The Build Journal, Voyager Catamarans new home for build advice, stories from the shed, and about the people behind it.
From the Flight Deck to the Fore Deck (And Everywhere Else In Between)
My name is Frankie Bryant and I am lucky enough to be the owner of Voyager Catamarans. And, yes, I love my job!
My career has taken me through casinos, commercial aviation, and archaeology. Now I help build offshore power catamarans on the Gold Coast. I’ll give you a moment with that.
I’ve never been someone who stays in one lane. My first industry was casinos – where you learn fast that people, process, and attention to detail are everything. From there I spent years managing the welfare of commercial pilots, looking after the people responsible for getting thousands of passengers home safely every day. After that I became GM of an archaeology company working on major Australian infrastructure projects including the Sydney Light Rail.
Three completely different worlds. One more thing they had in common – I was usually the only woman in the room.
I didn’t think about that much growing up, because my father never gave me the chance to. He simply never considered – and never let me consider – that there was anything I couldn’t do. I didn’t fully appreciate what a gift that was until years later. It turns out that if nobody tells you a room isn’t for you, you just walk in.
So I did. Every time.
The lesson I took from every industry was the same: walk in curious, never pretend you know something you don’t, ask the right questions, and treat every day as a school day.
When I came across Voyager Catamarans, I wasn’t looking for a boatyard. But I recognised something I’d seen before – a genuinely good product, built by genuinely skilled people, that wasn’t being presented to the world in a way that reflected what it was actually worth.
So I bought it.
What I brought wasn’t boatbuilding experience. I’m learning that every day from Darren Grono, our Master Boat Builder, who has been constructing these vessels for over 40 years. What I brought was fresh eyes, a background in people and process, and a deep respect for craft I’m only beginning to understand.
What I’ve done since arriving is listen. To Darren. To past customers. To the boats themselves.
And then I’ve started to fix the things that needed fixing – the pricing, the packaging, the way we tell our story, and the systems that will let this business grow the way it deserves to.
This blog is where that continues. Planning advice for anyone working through their own custom build, an honest look at the decisions that go into ours, stories from owners already out on the water, and yes, the parts where we get it wrong too.
More From The Build Journal
This is one story from a wider series on choosing, building and owning a Voyager – from picking your layout to the survey paperwork to the questions only an owner thinks to ask.
Got a question this post didn’t answer? Email us at info@voyagercatamaransaus.com and we’ll get back to you – good questions sometimes become the next post!