Gozzo Cabin 38

Stylishly retro, the Gozzo Cabin 38 Mediterranean all-weather cruiser is equally suited to northern waters.

Virtually unheard of in the UK, the Neapolitan yard of Apreamare is one of those long-standing yacht builders that make up the varied fabric of the Italian boatbuilding industry. Dating back to 1849, this company, under its fledgling founder Giovanni Aprea, cut its teeth on fishing boats. It maintained this tradition until after the Second World War, when car engines replaced sail. The subsequent petrol-powered ‘Gozzos’ of the time were the first pleasure boats to be rolled out, eclipsing their fishing craft and setting the foundations for modern-day Apreamare.

The new 38 Cabin is a development of the 35 Speedster, a boat that shares an identical hull but with a shorter bathing platform. Though it might look a bit like a semi-displacement boat, the 38 Cabin has a planing hull, albeit a wide one. The schooner-style stern does not extend below the bathing platform, as beneath the platform the transom is conventionally flat – which it needs to be to cater for the sterndrive engine option. The fairly generous 3.7m beam gives it a slightly portly waterline length-to-beam ratio of 2.6 to 1. However, the ‘warped’ hull design provides fine entry lines forward of amidships, finishing with a finely chiselled vertical bow with a good degree of flare. The end result should provide a capable dry head sea ride with plenty of buoyancy – notably in the aft sections. Given that the 40-knot 35 Speedster has proven successful with twin 400hp V10 Verados, one can suppose this hull will be equally efficient.

However, the persona of the 38 Cabin compared to its Speedster sibling is slightly more traditional. The schooner-style stern is shared across both models, but the enclosed wheelhouse of the 38 really fits its character. This boat is aimed at being a compact cruiser – capable of stretching its cruising legs while being equally at home catering for lazy days resting on the hook off some far-flung cove. The long eye-catching rounded bathing platform, apart from enabling superb access to the starboard-quarter transom gate, provides for a myriad of uses. It houses a large storage locker, which doubtless contains the bathing ladder that slots into the four stainless deck inserts on the starboard side of the platform – in keeping with the super-clean aesthetics of the design. The semi-circular cockpit houses an L-shaped settee for four, served by a teak drop-down table that transforms into a sunbed conversion. A deck hatch beneath the table provides storage when underway, which itself is inset into the very large engine bay hatch. On hot days there is the option to connect a bimini top over the whole cockpit area.

The quadruple-section doors can open fully.

The bathing platform is 1.5m long.

Deck access is safe and spacious, with wide teak side decks enclosed by medium-height bulwarks and tall guard rails. Due to the generous beam, the wheelhouse design does not need to be asymmetrical, so apart from not compromising its Italian aesthetics, you get equal-width decks. Thanks to the blunt bow, the forepeak deck area enjoys more space than you would expect, with a forward-facing bench seat providing access up onto the wide sunbed covering the entire coachroof.

Perfectly shaded for al fresco dining.

Great views aft.

The wheelhouse is relatively slim but with good all-round visibility.

The wheelhouse/saloon has a galley to starboard, fitted with a large Isotherm fridge, complemented by the usual sink and hob arrangement. The dinette opposite is a four-person arrangement with a small folding table, which makes cockpit dining a more realistic option. The helm has a double bolster seat, but it is cosy for two, thus wider seating here would be a benefit – for which there is room. From a driver’s perspective, double windscreen wipers would make better sense, as the single wiper fitted is a bit of a ‘token effort’ for a boat with good offshore credentials.

The helm is really a wide one-seater.

Below decks, the twin-cabin design is effectively open plan. The main cabin is located forward, while the guest cabin sits amidships behind the companionway steps, and the heads lies on the starboard side. The main cabin area has full standing headroom, an island bed with pull-out storage beneath and hanging lockers on either side. There is plenty of general storage on the port side for both cabins, and the luxury heads has full standing headroom and a separate shower compartment.

The mid cabin lies aft of the steps.

The heads is generous in size and height.

Though distinctly Mediterranean in flavour, this all-weather coupé clearly has plenty of potential in northern waters. It offers both old-school shafts with 320hp Volvo D4s and duo-prop DPI sterndrives on 270hp D4s for those who are more performance focused. Top speed from the shaft-driven boat will likely reach the 27 knots claimed, and 30 knots is not unlikely from twin 270hp sterndrives. Economy will, of course, be better from sterndrives, so you could potentially see 2.5nmpg in the low 20s, giving this boat a 300-mile range with a healthy 20% reserve in hand. That said, this style of craft will always be more popular when shaft driven, and seakeeping in big seas tends to benefit from the ‘planted feel’ that shafts provide. Like many lesser-known Italian brands, Apreamare have a good heritage in terms of hull design, so the tall topside hull is likely to perform well and match its looks. For UK waters, the nearest agent is located in the Netherlands.