Audrey Cotter and Scott Dickerson’s home isn’t like most people’s. They bought a three-mast sailboat in Ketchikan earlier this year, and that’s where they live –the boat that is. They motored it up to Wrangell’s Marine Service Center and spent months fixing it up. KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki stepped on board before they launched last month to hear more about the Alaskan Gypsy.
Their YouTube channel is called The Alaskan Gypsy Life.
Dickerson
This is our home. Neither of us owns property or homes anymore on land, and we’re going to be living on this boat, just going where the wind blows.
We’re doing something very unique with a very unique boat. Live on it four seasons, even in Southeast, where there’s a rich maritime culture, most people put their boats away for the winter.
I’m Audrey Cotter. I’m Scott Dickerson.
This is the Alaskan Gypsy.
Dickerson
This boat is 80 feet overall, 66 feet on the deck. This boat wasn’t for sale. And (we) just started pursuing the owners and asking them if they would consider selling. This boat was beyond our dreams. When we saw the Alaskan Gypsy sitting in the harbor, my jaw dropped.
The process of acquiring the boat and the journey for both us, but also the previous owner, it was an emotional and challenging thing. The previous owner treated the boat like a child, so it was a meaningful handoff.
And then we left the harbor for the first time, which felt completely surreal to be aboard this incredible ship.
Cotter
While I was making lunch for my daughter, who was onboard at the time, I forgot we were even moving until I saw the water going by out one of the portholes, because this boat is so large it feels like a ferry. We had maybe four or five foot chop but you just couldn’t feel it.
Dickerson
It felt like we were transported into an alternate reality, where I kept on chuckling, thinking when’s the owner gonna come and tell us they need the boat back.
It was clear that it was two days of fantasy living, and then we were going to go through some form of purgatory.
We found out that it needed major repair work, and was soon to start taking on water and become very unsafe.
Everything worked out and we’re able to earn our position as stewards of this vessel through sweat equity instead of financial mostly, and super grateful for the opportunity to earn our positions with this boat’s legacy.
Cotter
The original owner of the vessel was a welder and a boat builder, and this was his retirement project. So it really does feel like carrying on a legacy. He built a 20-foot fabrication shop in the bow.
Dickerson
Thomas Colvin is the designer. It’s like an instinctual attraction. The Colvin designs have sort of a heavy duty work boat look to them. He was a really practical kind of guy. His idea was you should be able to earn money with your boat and do work with it and live on it.
The Gypsy has a big salon area. The galley is full width of the boat, so it’s about 20 feet wide, has huge storage capacity in the cupboards, carries 1200 gallons of fuel, holds about 600 gallons of water, and we have five sails. It’s kind of a self reliant battleship.
Before we purchased the boat, we found out that it had suffered from severe electrolysis, which is basically stray electrical current that dissolves metals in water.
We put it on the grid to inspect the bottom, found out it was in terrible condition and needed major work. So I started asking around, ‘Where should I take it? It needs major work. Where should we go?’
And everybody unanimously said, ‘Your boat’s in Ketchikan, you should go to Wrangell.’
Everybody basically said the same thing: excellent facility, friendly town and a lot of skilled craftsmen and tradesmen.
It’s been a couple months of really long days of working on the hull. I ended up sandblasting it down to bare metal and then rebuilding it all back up with top quality coatings. I had to take off the prop, which had been attacked by electrolysis as well, and so I needed a new prop. Figured we better look at the shaft. Pulled the shaft out and found out it was also corroded beyond repair. One thing lead to the next.
The major project is done. We are ready to get back out on the ocean. I think we’ll go deer hunting and then I think we’ll probably go to the nearest hot spring.
Cotter
Scott and I, I would say, both have a lot of eclectic interests that are well supported by the coastal living environment, and especially with being able to work remotely. It’s just exciting to see what opportunities will come to us.
Dickerson
I could live 100 lifetimes with this boat, I think, and still feel like there were things left undone.
We’ve been sharing our journey here, restoring the boat on YouTube, and it’s been very well received by a surprisingly global audience.
We are planning to do Christmas in Prince William Sound with our kids and Audrey’s family in Valdez. The snowiest place on the planet. I don’t think it technically is, but it’s very snowy, so we’re imagining Christmas lights in the rigging and five kids on board.
Wrangell is a part of this boat’s legacy now, and it was the place where it has been reborn.
Cotter
It’s been just beyond my wildest imaginations, truly, of where to spend our time repairing and restoring our liveaboard vessel, while building authentic, meaningful connections.
