About this tender
The 500R is the RIB we ask Chaser Yachts for when your programme needs genuine scale without surrendering the rubber-tube safety margins that make a RIB worth having alongside a large yacht. At 16.50m overall and 4.56m in beam, this is a full-size platform - not a scaled-up tender but a purpose-engineered vessel with the deck area and the hull geometry to carry a serious watersports programme in open-water conditions.
Chaser Yachts is a Dutch yard with a focused model range: three hulls, no dilution, each one built to a finish level the yard describes as superyacht-grade. The 500R sits at the sporting end of that range. Cruising speed is quoted at 40+ knots; the published top figure is 50+ knots. Those are credible numbers for a hull of this length when the driveline is properly specified, and Chaser's positioning in the chase-boat market means the build brief is performance-first throughout.
What separates the 500R from a conventional large RIB is the degree of customisation the yard carries into production. No two examples leave the facility in the same configuration, which matters when you are specifying a vessel to complement a specific mothership programme rather than buying off the shelf. Tube colour, deck layout, electronics fit, and seating arrangement are all open variables at the order stage.
Highlights
The four details we'd point out first to a captain who hasn't seen one on the water yet.
At 16.50m LOA and 4.56m beam, the 500R has the proportions of a genuine chase platform rather than an oversized tender. The 0.62m draft keeps it workable in shallow anchorages. Chaser quotes these figures directly in the elevation drawing published on the model page.
Chaser Yachts publishes a full-speed figure of 50+ knots and a cruising figure of 40+ knots. For a RIB at this length those numbers place the 500R firmly in the performance-chase category, where the brief is to stay with the mothership under way rather than simply ferry guests at harbour speeds.
The yard is explicit that no two 500R hulls leave the factory in the same specification. Deck layout, tube configuration, electronics, and interior finish are all adjustable at order stage, which is exactly the flexibility a captain or project manager needs when fitting a tender or chase boat to an existing fleet.
The defining characteristic of the RIB format - buoyancy tubes that remain effective even in the event of a hull breach - is retained across the full 16.50m length of the 500R. That is not a given at this size, and it is what keeps the 500R relevant for programmes where safety certification and watersport use run alongside each other.
Gallery
The full specification
Specifications, prices, availability, and performance figures are supplied for guidance only and remain subject to confirmation by the yard, seller, broker, survey, contract, and final specification.
Questions, answered
The yard
Aerdenhout, Netherlands
Chaser Yachts is the build we ask for when a programme needs a 15-metre chase platform with genuine range, full customisation from the keel up, and the confidence of Dutch boatbuilding behind it. The yard is family-owned and operated, with its roots in the Landeweer family's long association with Garlington Landeweer - the Stuart, Florida sportfishing brand the family has been connected with since 1987. That heritage in high-performance, high-sea-state construction is carried directly into the Chaser range, which is designed and built in the Netherlands.
The current catalogue runs to three platforms: the 500R, the 500CC, and the 500HE. The 500R is a 15.3-metre aluminium-hulled maxi RIB - three Mercury Verado 400R outboards, 50 knots top speed, 2,650 litres of fuel aboard, and a CE Category B certification that permits offshore passages to 200 nautical miles. The 500CC is a GRP centre-console variant of the same footprint, pushing 55 knots on the same triple-outboard package. The 500HE is a styled chase boat developed in partnership with Harrison Eidsgaard, the London-based design studio, and targets the superyacht end of the market directly.
All three builds are fully custom in every meaningful sense - layout, finish standard, propulsion choice, and deck configuration are agreed per hull. The yard positions the range explicitly as superyacht tender and chase support craft: long enough to follow a mothership independently, shallow enough to run a beach landing, and robust enough to tow. We'd put it alongside the Dutch and Scandinavian performance-RIB builders for sea-state capability; the finish level and customisation depth is closer to the bespoke Italian and British tender yards.
Last call · Available
Chaser Yachts · Aerdenhout, Netherlands
Tell us about your yacht, your programme, and the missions 500R needs to handle. We come back within 48 hours with a written assessment - fit for the brief, lead time, and trade-offs against alternatives in the same band.
Prefer to talk? +44 (0) 77180 88055 · other ways to reach us
From the library
