Meet the boat
Endless Song
A 1985 Passport 40 — Hull #82 — and the story of her refit
David & Darrell · sailingendlesssong.com
When we started our search for a bluewater boat we had many ideas, many changed as we viewed boats. I was very enamoured with the German Sirius DS35 which seemed to cover my bases, but not Darrell’s. She hated the main cabin berth, crawl in from the top and after we’d visited a DS40 in Vancouver, that got chopped off the list.
We met Max Shaw at the Vancouver boat show, he took one look at us both and said, 'forget looking at 35’ boats. You just won’t fit!' He was right. So the 35’ limit was discarded. He showed us a Fast Passage 39, interesting, but too much of a project for our purposes.
Trina Holt showed us everything in her portfolio between Nanaimo and Sidney, but nothing gelled. One of the boats we viewed was a Mason 43, lovely designed boat, but this taught us that adverts that say ‘just completed a circumnavigation and ready to go again’, really mean ‘needs a total refit’
Disenchanted with what was available in BC, Canada, I extended my search into the western USA, and came across a few Passport 40’s. These really looked interesting. We arranged to visit a few boats one weekend and the minute we stepped onto Endless Song, we were sure we’d found our boat. She was in very good condition, previous owners had sailed her to Alaska a few years earlier and as happens, life intervened in their offshore plans so they were reluctantly preparing to sell her.
We had several more visits, a sea trial, boat survey and in May 2023 we sailed her north to Canada. We are very thankful to the previous custodians. They had done many of the upgrades that would have been on our plans, even so, we’ve undertaken major work to get her ready for this adventure. Every boat has character. Endless Song is a serious ocean sailor with a gentle soul — heavy on her feet in a lumpy chop, transformative in a consistent breeze, and utterly unflappable in conditions that would alarm something lighter.
She is a 1985 Passport 40, hull #82, designed by Bob Perry — one of the great naval architects of modern cruising boats. We are her 4th set of custodians. She is, as one sailor in Glacier Bay put it when he saw us coming in among the bergy bits, 'the right kind of boat for this sort of thing.'
He was right. She is exactly the right kind of boat for us.
The Design — Bob Perry's Passport 40
Endless Song anchored on her way to Canada
Bob Perry designed the Passport 40 as a bluewater cruiser without compromise. Full keel. Deep, balanced helm. A hull that drives well in light air and settles into her stride as conditions build, rather than hobby-horsing or slamming like lighter designs can.
She displaces around 22,000 lbs, carries plenty of stores and water, and has the volume below to live aboard comfortably for months at a time. She is not fast by modern racing standards — in flat water we might touch 7 knots; in a good trade-wind reach, 5 to 5.5 is a satisfying daily average. She is steady, safe, and deeply seaworthy.
"This boat sails like a dream. She's so well balanced in light or heavier winds."
We saw a CT 56 in Canoe Cove during our preparations — another Bob Perry design, scaled up. A beautiful boat. But the Passport 40 suits us: big enough to be comfortable offshore, small enough to be handled by two people in any conditions we're likely to encounter.
She bobs like a cork in an anchorage. She is extraordinarily stable at sea. She has never, in the years we've owned her, given us reason to doubt her structural integrity.
The Refit — Phase 1 Westport Marina, Sidney BC, Nov 2024 to May 2025
Before the Alaska voyage, Endless Song underwent an extensive refit at Westport Marina in Sidney, BC. The work was substantial — and was carried out over six months. The engine was replaced. The original Nanni diesel had served its time; a Beta Marine 45hp was installed by Gartside Marine in Sidney, a marinised Kubota-derived engine with a reputation for reliability and longevity that suited our intentions. u The rigging was inspected and additional control lines and safety features were added. Notably permanent jacklines, granny bars at the mast, mainsail control moved to the mast -new winch on mast, new rear ladder added that is operable from the water, rear and fore guys both sides to manage the spinnaker pole and act as gybe preventors, inner removable solent stay for new working jib and code Zero sails, new cockpit winches - redundancy and control.
The Refit — Phase 2 Westport Marina, Sidney BC, Nov 2025 to May 2026
We learnt a great deal on the Alaska trip and one weak area was the electrical system. Gavin and his team at Ocean Performance in Sidney —worked through the existing systems and wiring and rebuilt it to a standard appropriate for extended offshore passagemaking. The heart of the system is a pair of Epoch 460Ah lithium batteries, managed by a Victron 2500W inverter/charger, with charging via an Arco 275 alternator controlled by a Wakespeed 500 regulator. Lithium batteries changed everything. The ability to draw the banks down to 20% without damaging them means we have usable energy reserves that a lead-acid system couldn't match. The watermaker, the navigation electronics, the autopilot, the refrigeration — all run comfortably from the banks, which are recharged by the alternator during daily engine runs and supplemented by solar panels on the stern arch.
The rigging was inspected and partially replaced by Blackline Rigging, Serge truly a wonderful person, managed their team.
The Ballard sails that had now done two Alaska trips were serviced and upgraded by North Sails Sidney.
Our sail wardrobe is now — a 120% ocean crossing genoa on the headstay, a North Sails 3DL working jib on a solent stay inside it, a code zero on a removable inner forestay for light-air reaching and Ballard ocean crossing mainsail with a very deep second reef.
Key Systems Boat: 1985 Passport 40, Hull #82 Designer: Bob Perry Engine: Beta Marine 45hp (installed by Gartside Marine, Sidney BC) Batteries: 2 × Epoch 460Ah lithium (920Ah total) Alternator: Arco 275, managed by Wakespeed 500 regulator Inverter/Charger: Victron 2500W Watermaker: Echotec DC (50–60L/hr) Navigation: B&G Zeus 3 chartplotter, Orca Core navigation system Communications: Starlink Mini (satellite internet), Garmin InReach Mini (tracking and emergency comms) Headsails: 120% Ballard ocean crossing genoa, North Sails 3DL working jib (solent stay), code zero Steering: Hydrovane wind vane (primary offshore), wheel autopilot (backup) Safety: Jordan Series Drogue with dedicated chainplates Fuel: 400L diesel tanks (~2L/hr at cruise rpm) Liferaft: viking 4 person. Hydro — The Third Crew Member
No piece of equipment has earned more respect aboard Endless Song than Hydro — our Hydrovane wind vane steering system. A wind vane steers purely mechanically, using wind pressure on a small vane to actuate a servo rudder that steers the boat. No electricity. No electronics. No autopilot motor to burn out at 3am in confused seas 500 miles from land. Just wind and physics and an elegant mechanical linkage. "The Hydrovane is a wind driven simple mechanical system to steer the boat. It requires zero electricity to work. Once set up properly it will steer for hours without attention. It's quite remarkable." We commissioned Hydro on the final leg of the Alaska voyage, south of Desolation Sound, in known waters and moderate winds — by design. Learning a new piece of safety-critical equipment in unfamiliar or demanding conditions would have been foolish. We spent days experimenting with the settings, learning how Hydro responds to wind shifts and sea state changes, understanding its limits. On the Pacific passage, Hydro is everything. The trade winds are consistent enough that once set, the boat sails herself for hours at a time — freeing both crew from the wheel, allowing proper rest on passage, and eliminating the electrical draw of the autopilot motor entirely. In the first weeks offshore, Hydro steered upward of 90% of the miles.
What She's Done
In May 2025, Endless Song left Westport Marina in Sidney, BC, and sailed north through the BC Inside Passage, past Cape Caution, up the central BC coast, through the Alaska panhandle to Juneau, into Glacier Bay to 59°02'N, out to Haida Gwaii, and home again. 2,833 nautical miles over five months.
In May 2026, she left Westport Marina again — this time turning south and west, bound for the Pacific. The destination is the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, 3,800 nautical miles from Bamfield, BC. From there, the plan is to drift westward through the years: Tuamotus, Society Islands, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand. She is, in other words, just getting started.
"Sitting here on the cusp of starting a voyage that began in a dream as a child. It's quite an impossible dream but it's about to come true."
Endless Song is 40 years old. She has more miles ahead of her than behind her. We intend to make sure of it.
