1 Aquafibre Boat for Sale

Updated 9 October 2026 · By Hulls.io Editorial

About Aquafibre

Aquafibre was not a boatbuilder in the usual sense. From a factory at Rackheath, near Norwich, it moulded glass-fibre (GRP) hulls and decks that other yards fitted out and sold under their own names. When it closed in 2009, Martin Broom, who had run it since 1981, told Motor Boat & Yachting: "It never really advertised itself; Aquafibre was always a part of other products." That is why the name turns up on Broads cruisers, charter boats and sea-going motor boats sold under many different badges.

The business dates from 1965, the year Companies House records the incorporation of Aqua-Fibre Limited, and the year Motor Boat & Yachting gives for its start. It was formed as a central company that could mould GRP hulls for the many hire-boat companies on the Broads. Accounts of who founded it differ. Motor Boat & Yachting named Martin Broom of Broom Boats, designer Rip Martins, boatyard owner John Linford, Bobby Richardson of Richardson's Pleasure Craft and Vic Bell of Bell Boats. A history of Broom first published in Motor Boats Monthly describes a consortium of Martin Broom and four like-minded businessmen, while the Eastern Daily Press obituary of Martin Broom credits John Linford and Ian Macintosh, together with a consortium of boatyards that included the Broom family company.

The first product was a 29 ft 6 in semi-displacement cruiser designed by R. M. Martins, which Aquafibre sold as the Ocean 30 and Broom fitted out as the Broom 30. It was launched at the 1967 London Boat Show, and Motor Boat & Yachting says the same hull was also used for the Moonraker 30. The second hull was a 37-footer designed by John Bennett and unveiled in 1969. As the Ocean 37 and Broom 37 Continental it stayed in production with only minor changes for 18 years.

After disagreements among the founders, Broom bought out the others in 1971 and took control of the company. Under Broom, Aquafibre added an offshore cruiser, the Ocean 42, and a range of inland hire craft by designer Andrew Wolstenholme. The Broom history says that by the mid-1980s more than half the hire boats on the Broads had been moulded by Aquafibre. As the Broads hire trade declined, Aquafibre sold hulls to the big charter fleets, with many going to Emerald Star in Ireland and Crown Blue Line in France. It also did all the development plugs and moulds for Fairline, an arrangement that Motor Boat & Yachting said in 2009 had carried on until recent years, and it worked with Princess.

From 1981 Martin Broom ran Aquafibre with Ian Mackintosh and later Ian's son, Ben. In 2001 the company structure changed. The original Aqua-Fibre Limited was renamed Aquafibre Properties Limited and became an industrial property business, and it is still registered today under a later name, Tilia Properties Limited. The moulding work was carried on by a separate company, Aquafibre Mouldings Limited, which in 2007 described itself as making GRP hulls and decks for its sister company Broom Boats of Brundall, and for specialist customers across Europe.

Aquafibre closed in May 2009, when its last 18 employees were made redundant. Martin Broom told Motor Boat & Yachting that the closure had little to do with the recession. The moulding tools moved to Broom's own site at Brundall, meaning Broom now did all its moulding in-house, and he said that Aquafibre's historical records had been kept so that information could be supplied to owners of Aquafibre hulls. Aquafibre Mouldings Limited was wound up voluntarily, with a declaration of solvency, in 2010 and dissolved in July 2011.

For buyers, the main point is that an Aquafibre boat is usually also another builder's boat. The same moulding may be listed as an Aquafibre, a Broom, an Ocean or another yard's model, so check who fitted the boat out. Listings for some boats claim an Aquafibre hull where we have found no independent record. A 1983 Talisman 49 motor yacht, for example, is advertised as having an Aquafibre hull. However, the Talisman 49's designer said in 2008 that the design was in production with Halmatic, and Motor Boats Monthly's 2004 report names Halmatic as the moulder of the Talisman 49 it tested.