Overview - Gozzo 45 - Powerboat and RIB

With the style of a gentleman’s launch, plenty of deck space and a trademark schooner stern, the Gozzo 45 is clearly Italian. It is certainly built for the Mediterranean but is also blatantly practical with its tall bulwarks, wide side decks and high topsides. The Neapolitan yard of Apreamare has been building serious boats since 1849, most recently the award-winning Gozzo 35, from which the new 45 takes its cue.

Due to be presented this September at the Cannes Yachting Festival, this new boat features ‘superior livability’ with a fast and capable seagoing hull. It also has the choice of two propulsion systems: twin 600hp Cummins QSC 8.3s on shafts or twin 480hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives. We often see this double take with traditionally styled craft, as regardless of the extra cost of pods, fuel efficiency is becoming an increasingly important issue. Apreamare claim a considerable range increase for the 480hp IPS over the 600hp Cummins, and an extra 3 knots in top speed, but one thing is for sure, the shaft-driven Gozzo will be a better big-sea boat. The naval architecture and hull geometry are the work of Umberto Tagliavini of Marine Design, who is responsible for most of this company’s projects. The hull has a variable deep-V hull, which is designed to accommodate both traditional shafts and the Volvo Penta IPS.

A combined design team of Marco Casali of Too Design, Cataldo Aprea and the Apreamare technical department focused on the interior, creating generous lower-deck living space for a 45-footer. There are two layout options. The first is twin cabins, with the master cabin in the bow section, which is open plan to incorporate a saloon area. There are two heads compartments and a starboard amidships double guest cabin. It is an unusual design as there is no forward bulkhead to give the master cabin any privacy, but the effect is to provide plenty of space for a couple, with the second cabin facility being for children or occasional guests. Headroom is very generous, as is the natural light from the long window line, and you get the impression that two people could actually spend some time on board without feeling the need to escape dockside every night.

: The amidships guest cabin in the twin-cabin layout enjoys the same headroom as the forward sections of the boat.

: The master cabin area of the twin-cabin Gozzo 45.

The triple-cabin layout, with an en suite master cabin in the bow, a day heads and two amidships double guest cabins, I suspect, has been born out of the necessity to offer an accommodation plan where three separate cabins are needed. It has full privacy, but without a saloon section and the lower-deck coffee machine, you will solely rely on the topside galley. If you intend to spend all your time on deck or ashore, the second design can make good sense, though not having a lower-deck saloon, even a modest one, seems unusual. It is, of course, a Med boat, so making full use of the large topside wet bar galley and extensive seating makes logical sense.

There is a total absence of steps on deck, in strict adherence to this company’s ‘walk-around philosophy’. The open walk-around concept is something we expect in smaller boats in the UK, but in Italy they appreciate more the unfettered dimension this provides, especially for the family boater. The extra-generous stern platform, two large sunbeds, giant wet bar galley, a cockpit table that seats 10 guests, a bow lounge, the large side decks and the high bulwarks really sum up what this boat is about.