Petrichor

• TypeCatalina 36 Mk I
• Built1990, fiberglass
• RigMasthead sloop
• Length36 feet, about 12 meters
• BerthsSix; four sleep comfortably
• GalleyElectric, with a stove
• SaloonA table that seats everyone
• HeadsOne
• HeatA diesel heater
• TenderSulfi, a yellow Portland Pudgy, a rigid rowing and sailing dinghy
• Home portShilshole Bay Marina, Ballard, Seattle

The Catalina 36 is a roomy, well-supported coastal cruiser, and a forgiving one. Petrichor has sailed San Francisco Bay, the Baja Ha-Ha down to Cabo, a season in the Sea of Cortez, and the Inside Passage to Southeast Alaska. She is a home as well as a boat, lived aboard full time since 2024.

Six aboard

A weekend runs Thursday to Sunday, three nights. She has six berths; four sleep comfortably. Packing light is what makes it work.

The saloon table seats everyone. There is a diesel heater below. One head serves everyone. Water and power are finite.

What to bring

• Foul-weather kit.
• Wool.
• A sleeping bag rated to freezing.
• A soft duffel.
• A passport for the spring weekend, which crosses into the Gulf Islands.
• One short offering to give at anchor.

The voyage packing list is the full reference.

Her limits

• She is a coastal cruiser, and the weekends keep to the Salish Sea: Hood Canal, the South Sound, the San Juans and the Gulf Islands.
• Six aboard, at most.
• She carries one head, shared by everyone aboard.
• Her water and power are finite, and the weekend is lived within them.
• She keeps a weekend's hours: aboard Thursday at 5pm, alongside Sunday by 3pm.

Every gathering, past and coming, is at islandlab.dev/gatherings. The weekends she sails are at islandlab.dev/weekends.