About Us

  Broken Rudder, Inc. is an Alaska owned, family business built on time tested values & relationships with you, the customer.  We take pride in offering only the best in high quality products, custom fabrication, modification and repairs. Our versatility, attention to detail, and high-tech quality design work allows us to make your boat everything you’ve always dreamed.   Working with the best materials and skills, our projects are not only built Alaskan-waters tough but they look factory, enhancing your boats natural intended lines and beauty.

  Since the early 80s, brothers Darrin and Brian Crapo shared a passion for boats and the Southeast Alaska experience.  Since children, they enjoyed the coming of spring and the beginning of boating season.  As early as the age of 8 they began operating boats on their own and pursuing halibut hills and deep clear pools of returning Coho salmon.  By the late 1980s they met with longtime friend, Branden Holloway and spent all their available time and money out on the water.  As the size and number of boats held collectively by the trio grew, so did the time and skills required to rebuild and maintain them.  By their early 20s, they began buying boats at auction, often "fresh off the bottom".  The boats were gutted, hulls repaired, engines & electrical replaced and the process repeated again with a larger model nearly as soon as the last boat was finished.

  By the late 2000s the decision was made to exit commercial fishing and focus solely on the craft they loved.  In 2011 Broken Rudder, Inc. was incorporated and the doors were opened to the public.  Business began with small, dirty jobs brought in from bulletin board advertising.  In short order, business growth became a word of mouth stream of exciting new projects with ever increasing size and complexity. More and more work came from boat owners tired of the problems and expense with keeping an aging stern drive operational.  Aluminum outboard brackets were hand cut and installed in place of the older power plants, as were aluminum wheel houses.  In the fall of 2013 Darrin began work on a 10' mini jet boat sketched on a napkin one evening.  The concept was transferred to paper, then thin plywood and finally aluminum sheet.  A 110HP Seadoo power plant and jet pump were transplanted into the original "JetWaffe".

  A number of lessons were learned in the making of that jet boat.  Probably most important was the sheer amount of time to build something the "old way".  The decision was made to invest in modern technology and reshape the way Broken Rudder worked with metal.  The new boats, wheel houses and brackets started rolling out faster, cheaper and with more complicated cuts and precise fit up.  Now it was possible to use technology to bring products and pricing only found at larger yards to Southeast

2015 was ushered with the next technological upgrade for the company, and the way of doing business in Southeast Alaska.  With the launch of their online store, Broken Rudder is making a splash into modern retail utilizing fast & affordable logistics, lower 48 warehousing and low overhead to offer retail products at mail order prices!  Starting in the fall, Broken Rudder became Alaska's deal for Walker Bay Boats - the only North American inflatable boat builder - and the world's best.

Our services & offerings are ever expanding and include:

  • Mercury Outboards and Inflatable Boats
  • Specialists in stern-drive to outboard repower
  • In-house computer aided design coupled with CNC (robotic) aided fabrication
  • Steel, aluminum and stainless steel & fiberglass repair/fabrication capabilities
  • Competitive pricing/business model on marine hardware, electronics & more

Our mailing & retail address is:

Broken Rudder, Inc.
9974 Crazy Horse Drive
Juneau, AK 99801

 

Retail hours are:

Tuesday through Friday 10am to 6pm.

Appointments are also available Mondays & Saturdays.