Cromer's end-of-the-pier lifeboat is sporting a new look - with wooden cladding designed to withstand the harsh elements thrown at it by the North Sea for years to come.
RNLI operations manager at Cromer Richard Leeds said Siberian larch, the new timber used to protect the house, was an 'upgrade' after the original pitch pine.
He added the wood, which will in time turn to a silvery lustre, was very hard-wearing and should mean the charity would have to do less maintenance work on the building.
The current lifeboat base was built in 1997 - with a larger station, tilting launching platform and new ramp replacing a small shed which dated back to 1923 and the days of legendary coxswain Henry Blogg.
'The old lifeboat house wasn't working as it should have been. It was getting expensive to maintain and costing a lot of money to paint,' said Mr Leeds.
Ian Goddard, RNLI shoreworks manager for the East, said it was the first time this type of timber was used as lifeboat house cladding in the north Norfolk coast - with an RNLI shop in Happisburgh adopting the same material.
'It's very exposed on Cromer pier. It will be the big test for the timber but we have trialled it elsewhere and it's really holding up well,' said Mr Goddard who added the wood has been used a lot on the south coast.
All of the charity's modern slipway stations have Siberian Larch cladding due to the low maintenance cost, he said.
The project, together with new insulation and lower level windows, cost just over £100,000, according to Mr Goddard.
He added it would save the charity money in the long run and, with the little maintenance it needs, should last for at least 60 years.
Mr Goddard said the RNLI was forced to spend thousands of pounds on scaffolding and paint every time the original lifeboat house needed repainting and it was difficult for the moisture behind the coating to get out.
He explained one of the original planning conditions required the RNLI to paint the house white so it fitted with the aesthetics of the Pavilion theatre - but this was lifted as part of the new application.
Although the superstructure of the lifeboat house remained the same, three and a half miles of cladding was removed and the same amount put back up.
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