The framework is the shell shaping the hull to displace an amount of water weighing more than its own weight, allowing thus the boat to stay afloat.In fact, it is an half shell, since the upper half of the hull is open, of course, being unnecessary to buoyance.
This is not completely true: if a boat is supposed to stay at sea for a long time, it is not reasonably probable that the sea will stay calm, and the waves will not rise inboard.
Accordingly, a boat due to resist bad weather and rough sea is completed with a deck, that is to say a watertight cover to close the hull. The lateen "gozzo" "Santa Maria del Lauro", like all 'gozzi' from Marina di Alimuri, was a fishing boat: she was not conceived to face sea storms, nor to sail off shore, but being a working boat, a tool for subsistence and economic survival, she would be much more competitive if able to ride the typical short and broken high waves from North West wind, the Bay of Naples' "Maestrale".
A typical feature of this side of the bay is that it is a lee shore: when the dominant wind blows, the sea gets rough. So the fishing "gozzi" had a tall prow to break the crest of waves and a rounded stern to avoid sinking in the through. More, they sported a short deck on the bow, with extensions along the boards, to drain overboard the sea water sprays. And more importantly, behind the beams supporting the deck, they had three strong thwarts, connecting the sides to avoid deformations and to absorb the constant bumping of waves. Mast'Antonio Cafiero and his son Michele have cut beams and thwarts in solid elmwood, and connect them with impressive precision between the sheer strake and the dead beam. Their XXIst century wooden gozzo is a step closer to the sea.
Accordingly, a boat due to resist bad weather and rough sea is completed with a deck, that is to say a watertight cover to close the hull. The lateen "gozzo" "Santa Maria del Lauro", like all 'gozzi' from Marina di Alimuri, was a fishing boat: she was not conceived to face sea storms, nor to sail off shore, but being a working boat, a tool for subsistence and economic survival, she would be much more competitive if able to ride the typical short and broken high waves from North West wind, the Bay of Naples' "Maestrale".
A typical feature of this side of the bay is that it is a lee shore: when the dominant wind blows, the sea gets rough. So the fishing "gozzi" had a tall prow to break the crest of waves and a rounded stern to avoid sinking in the through. More, they sported a short deck on the bow, with extensions along the boards, to drain overboard the sea water sprays. And more importantly, behind the beams supporting the deck, they had three strong thwarts, connecting the sides to avoid deformations and to absorb the constant bumping of waves. Mast'Antonio Cafiero and his son Michele have cut beams and thwarts in solid elmwood, and connect them with impressive precision between the sheer strake and the dead beam. Their XXIst century wooden gozzo is a step closer to the sea.
