Join us in our dreams.
My name is JuVerna Brandel{people call me Jo it's much easier.
My dream partner's name is Neil Bent.
We now both live in the sunny Okanagan Valley in Kelowna B.C.
Neil & I met through work. I was a parts manager at a small electronics repair shop,
Neil is an electronic technician by trade.He came to Kelowna in 1998 looking for work,
and happened to come into the repair shop I was working at,{at the worst time of the day I might add}
lunch time . I was alone & it was very busy, I noticed him come in & said I'd be right with him.
To my surprise he waited most people don't if it's too busy.
Neil dropped off a resume & was hired a few days later.
Over the years working together we became friends. I was married at that time,so
just friends.We talked about sailing from time to time,sailing has been a dream of
Neils since he was a kid. Neil is originally from P.E.I. so was always around the ocean
& fishing boats,sail boats etc. he worked on boats growing up and knew he was going
to sail the world one day.
After my divorce we became closer & realized we would like to sail the world together.
We eventually moved in together.We talked allot about sailing looking at magazines
reading stories,checking out web. sites etc.
We finally made the command decision to make our dreams come true.
Just before midnight Dec. 31st 2001 we went on line to Bruce Roberts site.
clicked the ok button & ordered our boat plans. The 434 was on its way.
Only a few weeks later the plans arrived.We studied them over & over.
There is so much to learn & understand.
Then the decision was made to find the best place to live & begin building the dream.
We found the perfect house in the middle of an orchard out of the city with lots
of room.
We have a wonderful daughter Jennelle she's 15.She is not too interested in the boat yet,
but she will be in time.
She see's the progress and I think she is now starting to understand what it's all about.
We also have a cat, Destiny & puppy, Peanut.{We're not sure yet if they will be passengers or not}
After moving into the house everything started happening very fast .We found a place in Vancouver
that was able to supply all the steel we needed for the construction to begin. Link to suppler.
We contacted them ,confirmed the cost & ordered .with-in a few days delivery was confirmed
and few days later the truck driver arrived.We hired a crane to take the steel off the truck,
I was at work the day it arrived so I missed all the fun,but Neil video taped the whole thing
so I could see how it was done.We live down a long narrow drive,so the truck was unable to drive right too
the drop spot.So the crane removed it from the truck & brought it into the yard,dropped it into
the right place.It was quite the site.Neil said neighbors drove past very slowly watching to see what
was happening.
We now had most of the steel parked in front of the house waiting for construction to begin.
We again studied the plans for the stongback measurement's,as that is needed first.
After much fussing, we finally got the nerve to start digging holes in the front yard.

And so it begins.....



About the Boat



SPECS .

L.O.D. 13.20 m 43' 4"
L.W.L. 11.18 m 36' 8"
BEAM 4.10 m 13' 6"
DRAFT (Deep) 1.83 m 6' 0"
(Shoal) 1.50 m 5' 0"
DlSPL. (FG or Alu or W/E) 11,567 kg 25,911 lb
(Steel or Copper-Nickel) 13,330 kg 29,859 lb
BALLAST 3,996 Kg 8,809 lb
AUX.PWR 33 - 60 hp

This design has appealed to many serious cruising sailors, and is a medium displacement, fast performance cruiser which can be built in either multi chine or radius chine Steel or Aluminum, in round bilge fiberglass or in round bilge wood epoxy. Full size frame patterns as well as cut to size steel kits are also available for this design.
The Roberts 434 can be rigged as either a Cutter, Sloop or Ketch and the many different versions give you the choice of either a low profile aft cockpit, a center cockpit version and also a pilot house version.

Already several versions of this design have made complete circumnavigation's - one was sailed single handedly around the world in only 218 days. Several others have taken part in round the world rallies.

Many are being constructed in yards around the world with the pilot house version currently being one of the most popular designs.

To see more data and visit Bruce Roberts site Click here


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