Restoration of the barge Growler has just passed an important milestone with the insertion of the first piece of new timber into the hull. It’s one of 10 new frames, using oak timber bought with help from the Nancy Blackett Trust’s Young Sailors Fund.

Growler is a 34ft, one-third size sailing barge dating from 1922, and is currently being restored by 18-year-old Ash Faire-Ring. The Nancy Blackett Trust’s Young Sailors Fund made a £500 grant towards the work earlier this year.

After lying derelict in a barn in Dedham for many years, as a planned restoration project, Growler was donated to Ash by Gus Curtis of King’s boatyard in Pin Mill.

Ash, with the support of local boatbuilders in North Norfolk, including Charlie Ward and John Owles and others, aims to restore Growler to full sailing condition, to transport cargo under sail. He also plans a round-Britain trip, under sail, with young people to educate them about plastic pollution and how to reduce their negative impact on the environment.

More details, photos and videos from Growler’s latest newsletter are reproduced below:

The First Piece of New Timber is Officially Put Into Growler

After a hectic summer of working and deconstruction on Growler, it was an amazing moment when the first new piece of wood was put in after almost twenty years.

The restoration commenced on 7th June, the day after Ash completed his A-levels. The first job was to lift Growler up in the air so that she would be at a comfortable height to work on. This was achieved through the use of large air mats provided by Charlie Ward Traditional Boats. This was an awesome operation – do check out our YouTube video of this event below:

We then had a fantastic fundraising event kindly sponsored by Slow Food East Anglia. This event attracted over 400 people – raising £1,000 which paid for her new keel. The next stage was to remove all the underwater planking on the port side of Growler.

As may be visible from the photo, the starboard side planking had already been removed and the frames doubled. Our job was simply to copy this. After this was completed shipwright John Owles kindly surveyed the frames, coming to the conclusion that 10 would need to be doubled and 3 completely replaced. The team then went to collect the oak from south Norfolk.

The Growler team would like to show their huge appreciation to the Nancy Blackett Trust who kindly are supporting the Growler project. Their generous grant was used to purchase the oak needed for framing. Once the oak had arrived the time had finally come to make the first new frame. The first step was to cut the large oak planks into smaller pieces suitable for framing. A bevel gauge was then used to determine the angle that the frame needed to be on. The frame was then cut and the first piece of timber was in!

The above photo shows frame number one fitted and number two being dry fitted. A very special moment for the team. Work on Growler has now taken off and six out of the ten frames needed to be doubled are now in. Once this phase is complete the team can go onto replacing the keel which is due to arrive from France at the end of October. Between now and that time, Ash will be taking a few weeks off working on a yacht in Spain raising money to pay for the hull planking.

Finally, we would like to thank you for supporting our project. A particular thank you goes to Justin and Emma Dowley for allowing us to use the field, Charlie Ward Traditional Boats and to our paint sponsor Jotun. The project would not be possible without all your support!

Our current funding task is to raise money for the hull planking. This is estimated to cost £2000. One of the ways we are funding this is through the sale of Growler T-shirts (pictured below). We are selling these at £12 each. Do get in touch via Growler’s website if you are interested. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.