Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Pupparin Construction at the GSVVM - Playing "Catch-Up"


Back in February, Nereo Zane began sending us photos of a pupparin being built at the GSVVM.

In the frenzy of travel and reflecting of Vogalonga, I neglected to post up these images.
While at the GSVVM, I couldn't wait to get a look for myself. I met Luigino, watched him work for a bit, and took a crack at photographing the boat myself. I've witnessed a lot of boats being built over the years, but seeing this one firsthand was especially cool.
Looking down the centerline of the vessel, you can see just a hint of asymmetry.
A buso takes shape in the starboard rail.
Nereo just informed me that he has a new load of fresh photos of our favorite pupparin-under-construction. As they should arrive shortly, I knew that I'd better put these up before they're irrelevant. The next series of images should be much better - because nobody photos this boat better than Nereo.

7 comments:

Tamas Feher from Hungary said...

Supposedly a pupparin is 1,5x more expensive then a fully furnished gondola, even though it is one-third shorter?

Gondola Greg said...

If that's true, it's news to me.
But I've never priced them.
Seems to me that they would cost less for a few reasons:

1. The pupparin is a member of the "sandolo family" and as such is less complex in it's construction than a gondola. Less complexity means less building time.

2. The gondola is typically built from 8 different types of wood while the pupparin builder doesn't have to follow the same tradition, or deal with the challenges of joining different types of wood.

3. It could be argued that the pupparin, being smaller, takes up less space to build. Floor space in some squeri is highly valued, while in other shops the space demands probably don't matter that much from boat to boat simply because the building process will take up the whole room regardless of the boat type.

4. Most pupparini are stored out of the water. Nearly all gondole are kept afloat. This means that the gondola must not only be built to resist the many hazards inherent with full-time immersion, but they also have to be built to withstand the bumping-and-grinding associated with constant exposure to Venice's "moto ondoso".

5. With the very rare exception of "passenger pupparini", most of them are recreational, and don't face the wear and tear associated with passenger service. Gondolas are essentially limousines - well-dressed taxis, but taxis nonetheless. They are built to take a beating.

I'm sure there are many other points that could be posted here, but this is the main reason I believe that a new gondola will always cost more than a new pupparin:

6. Gondolas make money. They turn a profit. Want to see a high-priced bunch of sheet-metal on wheels? Go out and try to buy a hotdog cart. Gondolas are much more than hotdog carts, but they are similar in that they are "business tools".

This is all just opinion of course, but I think you'll find many of the above points to be true.
but then again, I might have missed something.

Thoughts?

Nereo said...

You're right on all points, Greg; length and cost aren't related.
I would just add that puparini are used for regattas.

Tamas Feher from Hungary said...

Maybe it's a historical thing? The guidebook says when the city council banned colour and decors for boats after the plague, the nobles started to use pupparins for personal transport, whenever a felze was not needed.

The pupparin was swift, had an easily recognizable stern shape and it was very expensive, a perfect combination of status symbols for the rich and influential people who wanted to show off.

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