Traditional building of a boat

Traditionally the construction of the boat was entrusted to the shipwrights. The commissioner fisherman indicated to the shipwright only the desired length. The rest of the decision on dimensions and forms were entrusted to the shipwright, who had no project or design, but he used his knowledge and skills, transmitted orally from father to son. Contracts were written only rarely, very often they were just verbal agreements. The wood to build the boats came essentially from Lebanon; rarely, someone commissioned boats built with wood of other origin.

The most used woods were pine for the outer plating, and the eucalyptus or acacia for the internal skeleton. The shipwright took about two months to build it. The boats, up to 50 years ago, were rather small, 6-7 meters, because they were driven by rowing and sailing. Now the most frequent dimension is 10 meters, the shorter boats are 7-8 meters.

The boats were painted with colored paints, and some apotropaic decoration. A name was always given, usually the nameof a family member (wife, children, etc.)