When Scott Dickerson and Audrey Cotter went searching for a place to haul out and fix their boat, everyone they asked pointed them to the same dot on the map.

“We literally have heard about Wrangell in every location,” Cotter said. “We have seriously been told at every location we’ve gone to that Wrangell is where you want to work on your boat.”

For Dickerson, the why was obvious as soon as they arrived.

“The facilities here are excellent,” he said of the Marine Service Center. “Everything here is so conveniently located. Everything is so clean and well organized. And everyone here is knowledgeable and helpful. It’s great.”

The couple are content creators documenting life at sea on their YouTube channel, “The Alaskan Gypsy Life.” In July, they bought the Alaskan Gypsy — a large, three-masted boat — in Ketchikan, fully aware they were taking on a major project.

“We knew, going into it, that there was going to need to be a lot of work,” Dickerson said. “The guy that owned it knew that it was in desperate need of repair. It was kind of a do-or-die situation.”

After hearing the same refrain about Wrangell from ports all over Alaska, they sailed the Gypsy here and got to work. They first visited Wrangell in July after purchasing the boat, but returned and have been working on the boat since September.

“I’ve got a lot of experience working on boats. But I knew this was going to take a lot of work,” Dickerson said.

The Alaskan Gypsy — a steel-hull, 80-foot three-masted schooner — was built for the rugged waters of Alaska and was once a floating repair and fabrication shop for working on other vessels and homesteads. According to Dickerson, it has a thicker than usual plate — 5/16th of an inch — from the waterline down.

“Since we’ve been here, we primarily have been working on sandblasting below the water line and taking it to bare steel,” he said. “We had to get through several layers of coatings and then we recoated it. It’s a very involved process that requires you to add certain layers at certain times under certain conditions.”

He said he has also added two new engine mounts and is currently waiting to add a new propeller shaft and propeller.

Dickerson grew up in Homer. A few years back, he and Cotter bought a smaller sailboat in Petersburg, which set them on a course they now describe as all-in.

“When we found out about the Gypsy, we decided to sell everything we had — our house, our vehicles — to live this life,” Dickerson said. “And when you’re planning to live on a boat, the bigger the better.”

For Cotter, the trade was about more than square footage.

“We get to live our most authentic expressions of who we are,” she said.

The Alaskan Gypsy itself carries a story. Dickerson said it was originally built in Anchorage by a man who planned to retire aboard, then changed hands and eventually made its way to Southeast.

Now, with repairs stacking up and parts on order, Dickerson is eyeing launch day.

“I’m hoping to have it in the water within the next week,” he said. “That depends on a few things coming in, but it should be in the water before Thanksgiving.”

What’s not in doubt, they said, is that Wrangell will stay a recurring waypoint.

“We’re definitely going to keep coming back to Wrangell,” Cotter said. “We love it here.”

Both said they’ve been taken with the town as much as the shipyard.

“There’s just a different feel here,” Dickerson said. “The people are authentic. It’s very unique.”

As for where to haul out next time, Dickerson doesn’t hesitate.

“It’s Wrangell,” he said. “The rates are reasonable and it’s a really nice facility. I would encourage any boat owner to come here to work on their boat. I think anyone in the Pacific Northwest should check it out.”

Between sanding, sourcing parts and filming, Cotter and Dickerson have been sharing regular updates from the Marine Service Center on their YouTube channel, chronicling the rehabilitation of their new floating home and the rhythms of a small Alaska community that has, for now, become their base.

Once the Gypsy splashes, their plans are loose — by design. They hope to head next to Prince of Wales Island and settle in for the holidays with family.

Until then, they’re where mariners say they ought to be: in a town that has built a quiet reputation for doing the hard work well, one boat at a time.