To say we’re thrilled is an understatement.

After almost five months of searching, we found it. It took weeks of negotiations and arrangements, a plane ride and a nine-hour drive to one of the most hellishly hot, humid places we’ve ever been, but we found our boat and it’s magnificent.

Iola Anne has been moored in her slip at the Marina San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez for months, waiting for new owners who will love her as much as her current ones have. And have they. Before we arrived in Mexico, the man who would be surveying Iola Anne told me he’d inspected the 38-foot boat about five years ago and that it stood out in his mind because it was the only boat he’d ever surveyed that he could find absolutely nothing wrong with.

“I had to write up something, so I wrote them up for not taking the boat out enough,” surveyor Allan Smith wryly joked.

Since selling our boat in April and looking at about a dozen sailboats, we’ve discovered that used boats, like tourist attractions and online daters, invariably look better in photos than they do in real life. In-person inspections of various sailboats have turned up wear and tear that’s impossible to see in photos, water damage that was conveniently outside of the photo frame, signs of leaks, poor engine maintenance, general grime and other indications of neglect and/or potential problems. By contrast, Iola Anne actually looked even better than in the photos included with her Yachtworld listing.

Boat broker Darrell Allen, owner Marvin Fenner and soon-to-be new owner Marty take a break during the boat survey.

On first glance, we could hardly believe our eyes. The wood below and above deck gleamed. The engine was spotless. The bilges were dry. The boat had been washed, waxed and scrubbed to a sparkle. We’d steeled ourselves for possible disappointment but were instead amazed by what we saw.

And beyond being in almost unbelievably good condition for a 20-year-old boat, Iola Anne was packed with even more gear than her detailed online listing suggested.

The boat’s current owner, Marvin, outfitted his floating baby with pretty much everything an offshore cruiser would want and need—an EPIRB, a life raft, a watermaker, a portable generator, a gas-powered emergency pump, oversized anchors, a single side band radio, forward-facing sonar that identifies underwater obstructions before you hit them, a chart plotter, radar, a weather fax and a heavy-duty autopilot. Almost all of the critical systems are backed up in case something fails.

He didn’t stop there. Marvin also added features to make cruising easier and more comfortable, including several he ingeniously devised himself. His wife, Carleen, had trouble unscrewing the latches to open the ports, so Marvin carved notches into several rubber balls so they fit tightly over the latches, making it easy to unscrew them.

He discovered an empty space underneath the cockpit that could be accessed from the aft cabin, cut a hole into the cabin’s fiberglass, added a wooden door and created a long, narrow, horizontal space perfect for storing items such as brooms and boat poles.

Safety was clearly a top consideration. Marvin installed a light switch in the main stateroom to turn on the spreader lights and illuminate the deck in the cockpit to safeguard against intruders. In case that wasn’t enough to scare away any unwelcome guests, he kept a can of bear mace and an air horn next to the bunk. If an intruder boarded the boat, Marvin and Carleen would each pop a port in the galley and the aft cabin—one would spray the mace out the port while the other blew the air horn.

Needless to say, all that outfitting didn’t come cheap. Marvin told us Carleen had suggested he start spending time in titty bars rather than embark on yet another boat project. “Titty bars,” she sensibly pointed out, “only cost a few dollars.”

Iola Anne during a sea trial on the Sea of Cortez.

We arrived in Mexico on a steamy, sweltering Thursday night and the survey was done the following morning. The only issues it turned up were minor: the batteries were old and needed replacing, the auto pilot needed to be recalibrated and a couple of gauges weren’t working but could be easily fixed.

We took the boat out for a sea trial that afternoon in what turned out to be perfect conditions to run it through its paces—and give everyone a welcome reprieve from the punishing heat and humidity.

The boat handled beautifully in a steady 12-knot wind, hitting about 7 knots of boat speed on a close reach and comfortably remaining on her feet. It lived up to Island Packets’ reputation for being stiff, solid and dry. It felt much different than sailing our Islander 38C, Camelot, a wonderful coastal cruising boat but clearly not built for what Iola Anne was.

We returned to the dock happy and excited, feeling increasingly confident that we’d found our boat. The only thing remaining was the haul-out. After the disastrous experience a few months back with a Tayana 42 we hoped to buy (but which turned out to be covered in blisters), we were a little apprehensive. Standing on the dock, we watched nervously as the boat was lifted out of the water. Marty ran his hand over the hull as Allan tapped around looking for signs of delamination. The hull was blister-free and showed no signs of corrosion or any other problems.

After settling on a final price, we went out for a celebratory dinner Saturday night, toasting Iola Anne and its wonderfully fastidious owners. We’re getting the boat for a more than fair price—comparable Island Packets sold recently have gone for considerably more and they likely weren’t outfitted as well as Iola Anne. Even with the cost of transporting it to Seattle factored in, it’s still a great deal. If we passed on the boat, I can’t imagine when, if ever, we’d find one that’s as perfect for us.

Deborah checks out the reading material in Iola Anne's main stateroom.

“If you don’t buy this boat, I will,” said Allan, who’s also in the market for a long distance cruising boat. “I’d buy it in a heartbeat.”

We can’t wait to close the deal, get the boat to Seattle and really make it ours. We’ve been fantasizing about taking it out for cozy winter weekends in quiet Puget Sound anchorages and talking about where our first offshore excursion will be.

I can’t deny that I’m also looking forward to the girlie stuff—buying new bedding, picking out new upholstery for the cushions, all the mundane matters that Marty’s usually happy to leave to me.

But first, we need to sort through the logistics of how and when to transport the boat north. We’re now in that surreal zone where the boat isn’t entirely ours yet. It all feels slightly unreal, both nervewracking and terribly exciting.

And we couldn’t be happier about it.

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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