We’d like to thank everyone who showed interest in our beautiful boat. I’m pleased (and a bit sad) to announce that Odyssey has been sold. I’m sure this amazing boat will continue her journey with her new (and just as amazing) crew.

Us?
We are off to another adventure far from the Pacific Northwest. As you can imagine things are very busy right now, but I still hope to post as time allows.
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Fair winds and following seas,
Sarah and Jonathan

A beautiful classic blue water cruiser, designed by Robert Perry, fully outfitted and ready to go anywhere and in excellent condition. This hard to find boat has been updated and improved throughout from the hardware and infrastructure (the captain is a retired engineer and mechanic, so you know it’s been well maintained). New lithium house batteries connected to solar panels, brand new hydronic heating, insulated indoor lockers and closets, updated upholstery and beautiful honey colored teak woodwork.  Her teak decks are in great shape, sails are great too, includes dinghy and motor, truly a boat that is ready to go anywhere or stay right here in Puget Sound.

And… she sails like a dream, solid and steady with a great lean!

LED lighting inside and out, Custom closet/hanging lockers redesigned for optimal storage and access.  Extra long v-berth with foot lockers, Quarter berth set-up for storage (the garage). World class meals are possible with a Force 10 Professional Series Galley Range, large in-counter refrigerator with freezer plate, galley sink plumbed with saltwater and macerator disposal.  Two stainless 50 gal water tanks and a rail mount Magma boat grill round out the galley options.

New Webasto Thermo Top Evo Hydronic heater, New 500 Amp-hour lithium (LiFePo4) house batteries,2 Optima deep cycle AGM start batteries, Victron Blue Smart 25 amp shore charger, Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC charger, 330 watt solar array with MPPT charger, Victron 500 Amp SmartShunt battery monitor, 400 watt Kisae inverter, Universal M50 Diesel engine with 75 gal fuel tank, Standard Horizon Matrix AIS+ GX2150 VHF radio, Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS Transponder w/wifi, Vesper Marine antenna and VHF/AIS/FM Antenna Splitter, Raytheon Auto pilot with ST6000 Plus Autopilot control, Raymarine/Raytheon instruments depth/wind and multi displays, Raytheon Pathfinder Radar, NMEA 2000 instrument network, WiFi booster - Cell Booster, Two tank propane locker with auto switch valve, Zodiac Cadet dingy with Honda BF2.3D outboard, Davits with solar panels , UP7-B Tank Level Indicator for multiple tanks, New Jabsco Head pump, electric bilge sensor, Lofrans Tigress 1000W windlass, Vulcan 25Kg (55lb) anchor with Mantis swivel, All chain rode - 200 feet, Lewmar self-tailing winches.

Fishing set up (rail mounted removable down rigger), Crab/shrimp gear (traps,floats,weights,line), Deck cushions Striped cockpit sunshade with optional rain tarp layer, TV and DVD player in v-berth, custom bed sling to raise mattress for air circulation, 4 excellent slim  style life vests, 2 safety tethers, Bosuns chair and anything else we find.

Services and improvements prior to 2016:
New standing rigging, polished chain plates, new windlass, chain rode and wiring including to batteries, charger and ground.   Hydronic heating with 3 cabin heating vents, full tank inspections for all, new safety lines, sails cleaned, new running rigging and blocks, davits and swim ladder, new stove, thru-hulls, helm rebuilt, upgraded instruments and deck hardware rebedded/replaced.

This Baba was originally a fresh water boat from the great lakes, so she was hauled each winter and her excellent condition overall is due in part to the lack of salt water for her first 20 years.

Last inspected Nov 2019 (Canada), last haul-out July 2021 (Gig Harbor) for bottom cleaning and new zincs.

www.latitude38.com/advert/35-42-overall-ft-baba-35-1984/

https://www.boattrader.com/boat/1984-baba-35-8081456/

To see more images of Odyssey on this site, CLICK HERE

​Contact us by email or call 360-517-0124 to schedule a viewing.

“Winter is a time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire; it is time for home.”
                   -Edith Sitwell

We’ve been exploring Puget Sound for four wonderful, lazy months, but now we can feel the weather changing. 

Once again winter approaches. Once again we find ourselves sailing the last few passages of summer to places we have enjoyed, doing what we can before the Pacific Northwest winter slows us down.

Today we find ourselves in Filucy Bay at the Longbranch Improvement Club marina. It’s quiet, even with the healthy dappling of homes along the shoreline. On a Tuesday, this place feels (pleasantly) deserted.

The marina is clean, well kept, and the area beautiful. So, despite the lack of showers or bathrooms, we will return here again.

Tomorrow we’ll head up the bay a half a mile and anchor for about a week. Sarah and I both need time for our creative pursuits and we have found that sitting peacefully in a beautiful bay is an excellent way to do just that.

We have learned that the indigenous tribes who visited this bay felt it was very special, believing it to be an ancient place. I feel it too.

Of note. We’ve traveled about 90 miles over a three week period. Obviously we aren’t in a rush.

Yesterday we arrived in Mayo Cove and secured a mooring buoy off of Penrose Point State Park. The buoy is closer to shore than my chart shows, but there was plenty of water under us.

We’d been keeping an eye on a large thunder cell working up from the south and I knew it meant the wind and rain were on their way. We have only used a mooring buoy once in the last 4 years, so I was a little on edge as the storm approached. 

The leading edge arrived like a freight train, dark and ominous, with winds was much stronger than I expected. While we watched, Carr Inlet (where we had come through a few hours before), was quickly worked into a frenzy by large, wind driven waves.

I’m not sure what the park buoy is rated for, but everything held and within a few hours things began to settle down. We still had a steady wind at midnight, but it was comfortable. 

Today we woke to sun and peaceful seas.

A short post on DC-DC chargers and why I’ve installed one with the new lithium battery bank.

WARNING: Lots of technical, little explanation. You've been warned.

Odyssey has an old-school alternator with internal regulator. This means that while the engine is running, the alternator will try to deliver everything it can as fast as it can until the battery is charged.

Regular battery chemistries like AGMs have a basic resistance that (usually) keeps the alternator from overworking itself and failing due to heat. Lithium batteries have a MUCH lower resistance and may just cause that poor alternator to melt, especially at low rpms.

What to do? Keep the start battery an AGM and then install a DC-DC charger between it and the lithium house bank. The charger will only operate when the engine is running and with the output rated somewhere below the full load amps of the alternator, it will keep the alternator from working too hard. The charger also isolates the house bank from the start bank so an ACR isn’t necessary. Our alternator is rated for 50 amps and the DC-DC charger is 30 amps.

An alternative would be to replace the alternator with something like a Balmer setup that has a programmable external regulator and will protect the alternator from overheating, but this is a much more expensive solution than the DC-DC charger and can complicate start + house bank systems.
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We just finished up a week anchored in Quartermaster Harbor, and have now sailed into Tacoma’s Dock Street Marina looking to laundry, shower, and provision.

The question on everybody’s mind is how that fancy lithium battery bank did. SO let’s get to it.

It did great!

While anchored we purposely weren’t careful about how much power we used, running everything, including the heater, as often as we wished. On average we were in the hole about 40 Ah each sunrise. I can’t tell you the total power we used each day because the solar panels charge the batteries and supply most of our needs during the summer daylight. At our next anchorage I’ll turn off the solar charging to get some meaningful numbers on usage.

The whole system worked very well  and I really like monitoring all the activity on my iPad using the Victron app.

On a side note, the 30A DC-DC charger also worked great. This device charges the lithium bank, but for specific reasons only while the engine is running. More about that in the next battery update.

A quote from a company that sells parts for building a LiFePO4 battery.

“The battery cells we sell will store A LOT of energy (that is the whole point) – more than enough to maim and/or kill you, your friends and family, and burn down your house, RV, boat or whatever, if you do not know what you are doing.”

If you don’t know what you are doing then the choice is simple. Buy your batteries, do not build them.

Why? A car battery is dangerous, but there are only two terminals to worry about. When you build a LiFePO4 battery from cells, the basic 4 cell configuration involves 8 terminals and multiple other live connections on the BMS. You will be moving these around, assembling (and disassembling) them several times. There will be many opportunities to mess things up, get careless, and get hurt, even knowing what you are doing.

So, let’s assume you do know what you are doing or you are willing to spend the time needed to learn. Here are my recommendations.

Build your own LiFePO4 battery if:

You plan to keep the boat for more than 3 years.
AND
You need more than 100Ah of capacity.
AND
You want to save some money. (You can build a battery pack for about half the cost of a top rated, fully assembled, ready-to-drop-in battery.)

I could write forever on this, and many have. I recommend watching Will Prowse on Youtube. He has excellent information and advice on all of this, including how-to videos.

Good luck and be safe!

We’ve left Kingston.
A front delayed our Monday departure, but then cleared out enough for us to leave the next day. Our first venture south of Seattle led us to Blake Island and the park dock on the NE side.
This was a strategic move as much as sightseeing. A strong low was forecast for Thursday, promising gale force winds all day. It didn’t disappoint. I’m glad we were safely on a dock.
It’s now Friday, and after a windless 5 hour trip we are anchored in Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island. It’s a large shallow bay with firm mud to sink an anchor into. There are some gusty winds coming tomorrow, but there isn’t enough fetch for uncomfortable waves to develop. If all goes well we’ll be here till next Tuesday when we head for Tacoma’s Dock Street Marina.

Wanderlust; A very strong or irresistible desire to travel.

It’s time to go. I’ve said that many times, and once again the changing season brings dreams of exploration and long summer days. I look forward to thinking of nothing (and everything) while the world moves on, mostly unnoticed. 

It is time to go.

Summer is coming, our fifth on the boat, and in anticipation I’ve been fixing things that I didn’t know were broken and Sarah is eagerly gathering her art supplies.

It’s time to configure for passage mode. It’s time to stock up and fill the tanks. It’s time to attend to all the last minute stuff because we really are down to the last minute. We are feeling a desperate need to get off the dock.

Cold and stormy days can make the ache manageable. But when sunset boasts flamboyant blues and reds, we can’t help but talk of the warm summer nights we know are coming. We dream of them.

For countless generations our ancestors greeted this time of year by packing up all they own to travel far and wide. Every year they moved with the seasons. I’m guessing the genetic memory of those travels is still within many of us.

If you’re out there, bags packed and keys in your hand, you know how we are feeling, you feel it too.

It’s wanderlust, and it’s time to go.