The first wooden crab boat built in Norfolk for 25 years makes its debut sailing

The first wooden crab boat to be built in Norfolk for a quarter of a century made her maiden voyage today. 'Auk' was launched from Morston Quay by boatbuilder, David Hewitt and his apprentice, 17 year old Tom Gathercole. They'd spent nearly 1500 hours constructing the vessel at the Stiffkey boatyard for local fishing enthusiast, Henry Faire.

David and Tom built the crab boat without any diagrams or plans but had to source some rather unusual components. They include: 2,000 copper nails, 1,200 larch wedges, 200 silicon bronze woodscrews, 200 silicon bronze gripfast nails, 2 larch trees: one straight grown and one ‘swept’ (bent for the curved parts), 1 oak tree, 10 metres of copper rod (for the hand-made bolts), 22 litres of paint, 2 litres of epoxy glue and 12 tubes of sikaflex sealer.

David and his brother, George, specialise in restoring and building wooden fishing and lifeboats. They are currently working on the Lucy Lavers lifeboat for the charity, Rescue Wooden Boats, which should be ready in time to return to Dunkirk 75 years after it was involved in the Little Ships evacuation. www.rescuewoodenboats.com