Emerson Boat Works is a family owned and operated marine business in Kodiak Alaska. Tom Emerson started the business as a part-time weekend business in the late 1980’s – working out of his small garage on projects for the State of Alaska and for friends. Those small projects soon opened the door to people requesting durable, welded aluminum boats.

Tom’s son, Jimmy – now takes care of the day to day operations of Emerson Boat Works. He has been able to expand the business model of the custom boat shop to include becoming an authorized dealer for several great marine products, including Suzuki outboard sales and service, King Saltwater Trailers and Advanced Marine Inflatables. Jimmy also designs the Emerson Boat Works merchandise – it has become so popular in Kodiak, that it is hard to keep it on the shelf!

Our Start

Let’s take a look back at the industry in the late 1980’s early 1990’s: Fiberglass boat designs such as the Boston Whaler, SeaSport and Bayliner were the most common sport boats around the Kodiak Waters. These fiberglass boats lacked the ability to safely and consistently beach on the rough shorelines around Kodiak (without damaging the gel coat or potentially punching a hole). Most manufacturers of smaller aluminum boats used lightweight aluminum and riveting techniques for fastening the skins together. These are great for smaller lakes, but the rougher waters in the Gulf of Alaska, most people desire something a little more substantial.

Tom's creativity, sense of functional design, and common sense attitude for strength and durability soon put him on track for building some of the best aluminum boats in Kodiak. The garage soon became a small welding shop – and small 19-23 foot center console skiffs started coming out of the shop. Half cabins cabin versions of 23-26 foot boats started being built in the shop for a couple of the lodge operators around the island looking for a day-use boat. The 26 foot boat was the maximum length that could be fabricated in the garage – and Emerson Boat Works was outgrowing the family garage.

Moving into a larger facility soon brought on a larger boat project. The new facility offered 40 feet of shop space – so obviously, Tom needed to build a 36 foot boat! The Wild Islands was fabricated the customer – and was the largest project the shop had taken on… until the M-Ship hit the drawing board. The M-Ship was the first fully predesigned pre-cut type boat to arrive in Emerson Boat Works. We have dedicated a whole page to this unique build…