Grant Programme

The £300 Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme

Keeping history afloat through practical support for the custodians of wartime wooden vessels.

Enquire about the grant

Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme — How It Works

Quarterly voting rounds allow members to direct £300 Plank Grants to the repairs that most urgently need support.

1. Applying for a Grant

Custodians complete a short application that sets out:

  • The vessel’s details and wartime history.
  • A brief description of the repair required.
  • Confirmation that the work will be undertaken voluntarily, not contracted to a commercial yard.
  • An estimated cost of materials.

2. Quarterly Voting Rounds

Applications are reviewed once each quarter and those that meet the criteria move forward to a one-week voting window.

During the voting week, members consider the shortlist and allocate their votes to the projects they wish to support.

3. Voting Eligibility

Votes are weighted to reflect each member’s connection to the Trust:

Category Description Votes per person
Trustees Responsible for the charity’s oversight and governance. 20
Heritage Members Individuals with deep involvement in maritime heritage, such as vessel custodians, researchers, and historians. 10
Custodians Owners or primary carers of eligible historic small craft. 5
Friends of the Charity Supporters of the charity; an additional vote is awarded if they have donated more than £15 in the past 12 months. 1 (or 2 with recent donation)

Weighted voting ensures that those with day-to-day responsibility for the Trust’s mission steer each award. Trustees bring governance oversight, Heritage Members contribute specialist knowledge, custodians speak for the vessels in their care, and Friends of the Charity demonstrate wider community support.

When considering each shortlisted application, voters look for:

  • Historical authenticity — clear evidence of wartime service and surviving original fabric.
  • Urgency — repairs that prevent further deterioration or a vessel being laid up.
  • Volunteer commitment — a plan that relies on self-help and traditional skills rather than contracted labour.
  • Public benefit — opportunities for learning, remembrance, or community participation once the work is complete.

4. Awarding Grants

  • Votes are counted by the Treasurer and verified by one other Trustee.
  • Grants are awarded in descending order of votes received, subject to the available quarterly funds.
  • All results are published openly to ensure transparency.

5. Reporting Back

  • Recipients provide a short update and photographs once the work is completed.
  • Where appropriate, custodians share the vessel’s story for public and educational use.
Replacing a plank on a traditional wooden boat hull.
Each grant reflects the typical material costs of replacing a single plank — timber, copper rivets, roves, and silicon-bronze screws — drawing on the restoration of Gerfalcon, a Dunkirk Little Ship in the Trust's care.

Overview

The Small Craft Plank Grant Scheme offers £300 “Plank Grants” to help custodians of eligible historic small craft undertake essential voluntary repairs. It is designed for the kind of plank, strake, or deck section replacement that keeps a vessel afloat, active, and accessible to the public.

The grant value mirrors the typical cost of timber, rivets, and fittings required to replace a single plank during the restoration of Gerfalcon, a Royal Navy Patrol Service craft and Dunkirk Little Ship cared for by the Trust.

Applicants confirm that work will be carried out on a voluntary basis rather than contracted to a commercial yard, ensuring that every award supports hands-on custodianship and the preservation of traditional skills.

During her restoration, 32 planks were replaced, each costing roughly £300 in timber, copper rivets, roves, and silicon-bronze screws. That practical reality shaped this grant level: a meaningful contribution that helps keep one more plank — and one more historic vessel — afloat.

Purpose

The grant is designed to:

  • • Prevent the loss of historically significant small craft due to minor deterioration.
  • • Encourage active maintenance through voluntary and community effort.
  • • Promote the use of traditional materials and skills.
  • • Empower individual custodians who preserve vessels of wartime service, often at their own expense.

“Sometimes all that stands between survival and loss is a plank, a handful of rivets, and the will to repair.”

What the Grant Supports

  • • Purchase of traditional boatbuilding materials (timber, fastenings, caulking).
  • • Replacement of small hull planks, rubbing strakes, or deck sections.
  • • Urgent remedial work to prevent further water ingress or structural decline.
  • • Small-scale restoration carried out by the owner, volunteers, or club members.

What the Grant Does Not Cover

  • • Labour costs where commercial contractors are engaged. This scheme exists to support voluntary work only — encouraging traditional self-help and community participation.
  • • Major refits or engine overhauls.
  • • New-build replicas.
  • • Vessels without verified wartime connection.
  • • Costs already covered by other funding bodies.

Eligibility

To apply, custodians must show that:

  1. Their vessel served, or was built for service, during wartime (e.g. listed on the Admiralty Small Craft Service or Operation Dynamo records).
  2. The vessel remains substantially original and in private or voluntary care.
  3. The proposed work is achievable within the grant’s material budget.
  4. The work will be undertaken voluntarily, not by paid contractors.
  5. A brief record of the completed work and photographs will be provided for the Trust’s archive.

Application Process

  1. Submit the online form with vessel details, service history, photographs, and the repair you wish to complete.
  2. Trustees verify eligibility and publish a shortlist ahead of the quarterly Plank Grant vote.
  3. Members cast their allocated votes during the one-week voting window.
  4. The Treasurer counts the votes, another Trustee verifies the totals, and awards are announced on wartimemaritime.org before payment is made by bank transfer.
  5. Recipients share a short completion report for the Supported Craft Register.

Legacy

Each £300 grant represents one small act of remembrance in action — keeping a single plank, a single story, and a piece of Britain’s wartime maritime heritage afloat.

Over time, these micro-grants build a collective legacy of preserved vessels and the volunteers who care for them.

Ready to Apply?

Share your vessel’s story and outline the urgent repair you wish to undertake.

Start your enquiry