What Is a Gulet?
An Aegean classic with a broad transom and wooden hull — the emblem of blue cruising and the ultimate test of disciplined timber maintenance.
A gulet is a wooden motor-sailer developed along the Bodrum-Marmaris-Göcek route, with a broad deck and a full, square stern. It is the backbone of Turkey's blue cruise industry and, being a wooden boat, its maintenance schedule is fundamentally different from that of a GRP vessel.
Owning a gulet is less about having a boat and more about looking after a living structure; neglect hits far harder than it does on GRP.
The discipline of timber care
Caulking opens: as timber dries, the seams between planks open up — a classic source of deck and topside leaks.
Varnish cycle: once the protective layer thins, UV turns the timber grey; leaving it too long means deeper sanding.
No airtight winter lay-up: a wooden boat left sealed up invites mould and rot; it needs to breathe even through winter.
The golden rule with a gulet is continuity: a wooden boat does not want 'one service a season' but small, regular attention all year round. For anyone thinking of buying, one clear warning: a gulet survey is a specialist job; the tools of a GRP surveyor will not read timber properly, so you need a surveyor who knows wood.