Martham Boats is a family-run boatyard on the River Thurne at Martham, on the Northern Broads. Since 1946 we have designed, built and hired out traditional wooden boats, and many of the cruisers in our hire fleet today were built right here at the yard.
How it started
Maurice Davey learned his trade as an apprentice at Herbert Woods, then spent the Second World War repairing naval craft at a base in Shetland. When he came home in 1946 he set about building the boatyard he had always wanted. Together with Jimmy Brown, Jimmy's wife Phyllis, Frank Skoyles and Derwent Wright, he founded the Martham Boatbuilding & Development Company. Maurice was the chief designer and Jimmy, as managing director, turned those designs into boats on the riverbank. Locally the yard became known as Brown's yard.
The June launches and the J fleet
The early years were mainly cruising yachts and the June series of launches designed by Maurice Davey. From them grew the J fleet of wooden cruisers, each given a girl's name, including the Japonicas, Janets, Janes, Janices, Judiths and Juliettes. The 1950s were the growth years and the 1960s and 70s the golden age, when Martham Boats became one of the largest hire yards in Broadland.
At the top of the range is the Silver Jubilee class: 43ft motor cruisers built at Martham from 1971, constructed of mahogany on oak frames and sleeping up to nine.
Built to fit under Potter Heigham Bridge
Our yard sits upstream of Potter Heigham Bridge, the lowest navigable bridge on the Broads, so every Martham cruiser had to be designed to pass under it. That is why our boats have their low, distinctive lines and fold-down screens. It also means Hickling Broad, Horsey Mere and West Somerton are right on our doorstep, on one of the quietest stretches of the Broads.
Still on the water today
A high proportion of the boats built at Martham are still in service, some in our own hire fleet and others cared for by private owners. Martham-built boats you can still hire from us include Japonica (1950), Janet 3 (1950), the Judith cruisers (1952), Juliette 2 (1959), Silver Jubilee (1971) and Javelin 2 and 3 (1972). They sit alongside classic yachts that have joined the fleet over the years, including Zoe, built in the 1890s, and Clipper, built in 1934.
A working boatyard
We still maintain and restore our wooden fleet in our own workshops, and we continue to build boats, including our Roamer, Jaunty 20 and Venturer day launches. The yard is still run by the family, and many of our customers have been coming back for decades.
Hire a piece of Broads history: browse our traditional motor cruisers and sailing yachts, or explore our day hire and activities.