Purvis Marine

What Purvis Marine does

Purvis Marine is a family-owned boat yard established in 1946 and located in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, operating from a single site on the River Great Ouse. The business serves individual recreational customers and holidaymakers through four service lines: motorised day boat hire (vessels seating 4–6, 8–9, and 12 occupants), holiday hire (a six-berth narrowboat and a five-berth Broads cruiser), marine repairs and servicing, and ancillary equipment hire covering rowing boats and canoes. Day boat hire is the core line, with rates starting in the region of £30 for half-day sessions, and the full operation runs seasonally from Easter through the end of September.

The company's revenue is generated across hire, servicing, and chandlery activity. Holiday hire extends the core rental model into multi-day self-catering, with prices scaled to season and boat type. Marine repairs cover outboard engine work, hull and boat repairs, and the supply of chandlery items, with labour charged alongside parts where third-party equipment is supplied (e.g., outboard engines and accessories). Equipment hire via rowing boats and canoes provides a lower-cost entry point for shorter-duration leisure customers and broadens the addressable day-user base.

Purvis Marine operates an entirely traditional go-to-market model: bookings are taken exclusively by telephone, payments are accepted only in cash or cheque, and there is no online booking engine, no mobile app, no social media presence, and no documented external funding or third-party investors. The site is open seasonally, the workforce is family-run, and there is no technology or platform layer underpinning operations. Revenue is therefore a function of local footfall, seasonal weather, and legacy customer relationships rather than digital demand generation.

Name

Purvis Marine

Legal name

Purvis Marine

Website

https://purvis.paulaskew.me.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Purvis Marine is a family-owned boat yard established in 1946 in Huntingdon, UK, offering motorised day boat hire, narrowboat and Broads cruiser holiday hire, marine repairs, and rowing boat and canoe hire to individual recreational customers on the River Great Ouse.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recreational Boat Rental Services

NAICS

Other Support Activities for Water Transportation (48839), Ship Building and Repairing (336611)

SIC

Ship & Boat Building & Repairing (3730), Water Transportation (4400)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Charters & Yacht Experiences (Crewed, Bareboat, Day Charters) (THAJAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Underwater Hull Inspection, Cleaning & Propeller Services (TLAKAKAJ)

Keywords

• Boat hire services
• Marine repairs
• Holiday boat hire
• Narrowboat rental
• River boat rental

Headquarters

HQ city

Huntingdon

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Boat Hire: Revenue from hiring boats by the day, half day, or hour. Rates are affordable and inclusive of fuel. Boats range from 4-seaters to 12-seater launches. Evening and piloted hire available by prior arrangement.
2. Holiday Hire: Revenue from overnight boat rentals including a 6-berth narrowboat and a 5-berth broads cruiser for holiday explorers.
3. Marine Repairs and Servicing: Revenue from undertaking marine repairs, maintenance and servicing of boats.
4. Additional Equipment Hire: Revenue from hiring rowing boats and canoes for customers wanting to explore local backwaters under their own steam.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Purvis Marine is a family boat yard on the River Great Ouse in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, hiring motor boats (4- to 12-seaters) by the hour, half day, or full day at affordable rates inclusive of fuel, alongside overnight holiday boats (a 6-berth narrowboat and a 5-berth broads cruiser), rowing boats and canoes, and marine repairs and servicing. The business has operated since 1946 and runs seasonally from Easter to the end of September, with full instruction provided for beginners and evening/piloted hire available by prior arrangement.

Product overview

Purvis Marine is a family boat yard offering boat hire services on the River Great Ouse in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire since 1946. The company operates three main service lines: (1) Day Boat Hire - renting motor boats ranging from 4-6 seaters (Speedy, Cadet, Microplus, Greyline, Wigeon, Coot, Smew, Pintail, Bayliner, Fjord) to 8-9 seaters (Snow Goose, Barnacle Goose, Alaska, Arabian Knights) to 12-seater launches (Merlin, Rebecca, Blue Heron); (2) Holiday Hire - two overnight boats including a 6 berth narrowboat and a 5 berth broads cruiser; and (3) Marine Services - repairs, maintenance and servicing. The company also offers rowing boats and canoes for self-powered exploration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Day Boat Hire (motor boats 4-12 seaters) Motor boat hire by the hour, half day, or full day, with boats ranging from 4-seaters (Speedy, Cadet, Microplus, Greyline, Wigeon, Coot, Smew, Pintail, Bayliner, Fjord) through 8-9 seaters (Snow Goose, Barnacle Goose, Alaska, Arabian Knights) up to 12-seater launches (Merlin, Rebecca, Blue Heron). Rates are affordable and inclusive of fuel, no previous experience is necessary as full instruction is provided, and evening and piloted hire is available by prior arrangement. Targeted at individuals, families, and groups seeking recreational river boating on the River Great Ouse.
• Holiday Hire (Overnight Boats) Overnight boat hire offering two vessels: a 6-berth narrowboat and a 5-berth broads cruiser, suitable for multi-day exploration of the River Great Ouse and Broads waterways. Targeted at holidaymakers and tourists seeking overnight or multi-day boating holidays.
• Rowing Boats and Canoes Hire Self-powered rowing boats and canoes available for hire, allowing customers to explore local backwaters under their own steam. Targeted at individuals, families, and small groups seeking a quieter, self-propelled boating experience.
• Marine Repairs and Servicing Repair, maintenance and servicing of boats carried out at the boatyard on the River Great Ouse in Huntingdon. Specific repair types are not publicly listed; customers call to scope work. Targeted at local boat owners needing maintenance or repair services.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Hoseasons: UK's largest holiday-boat and self-catering booking platform, with a large Broads and inland-waterways fleet. Directly comparable as a UK boat-hire/holiday-hire channel and aggregator, though it operates at significantly larger scale and multi-location breadth.

Direct peers

• Herbert Woods: Long-established Norfolk Broads boatyard offering day-boat hire, holiday cruisers, and marine services. Comparable as a heritage boatyard combining hire and servicing on UK inland waterways, with similar product range and family-operator ethos.
• Norfolk Broads Direct: Independent Broads-based boat hire operator offering day boats and holiday cruisers. Directly comparable as a family-scale fleet operator with similar day-hire and overnight hire products, serving the same East Anglian inland-waterway customer segment.
• Le Boat: European-wide canal and river hire operator with strong presence on UK inland waterways including the Norfolk Broads and Thames. Closely comparable as a fleet operator running narrowboats and cruisers on a usage-based hire model, the same core offering as Purvis's holiday hire.
• ABC Boat Hire: UK-wide canal-boat holiday operator with a broad fleet and online booking infrastructure. Directly comparable as a self-drive hire operator with narrowboats and cruisers, though operating at larger fleet scale and with modern digital booking.
• Blakes Boating: Independent boat-hire operator on the Thames offering day boats, cabin cruisers, and self-drive hire. Closely comparable as a UK inland-waterway hire business with similar fleet mix, seasonal operation, and direct-to-consumer bookings model.
• Wroxham Boats: Long-established family boatyard on the Norfolk Broads offering day boats, cabin cruisers, and moorings. Highly comparable as a heritage inland-waterway operator with a comparable mix of day-hire, holiday-hire, and marine-services offerings.
• Silverline Cruisers: Independent UK inland-waterway hire operator running day boats and holiday cruisers. Comparable as a fleet operator with similar hire products and seasonal trading pattern, but based on different UK inland-waterway locations.
• Connoisseur Boat Hire: UK inland-waterway hire operator offering day boats and holiday cruisers. Comparable as a fleet operator with similar self-drive hire products on UK canals and rivers, serving a comparable leisure customer base.

Emerging players

• GetMyBoat: Global peer-to-peer boat rental marketplace with growing UK presence. Comparable as a booking channel and competitive threat for recreational boat hire, though operating via aggregator model rather than owning a single fleet.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/purvis

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Purvis Marine