Reference-grade guides for owners, captains, and project managers.
These guides are written at the depth a captain or project manager would work from when pricing a brief. Each one covers a single decision in detail, with the cost ranges, regulatory inputs, and yard-specific considerations that change the answer.
If you need a quick definition rather than a full read, the glossary is the faster route.
Choosing the right category, framing the budget, and running the purchase from brief to delivery.
The used superyacht tender market is shallow and moves fast: the right hull clears in days and the public list is only ever part of what is available. This is the buyer's-side guide to finding one, inspecting it properly, valuing it, and not overpaying.
Buying a Superyacht TenderA chase boat is an independent 8-20m vessel that travels with the mothership rather than inside it. This guide covers the size and cost bands, the use cases that justify one, and how to decide whether the brief needs a chase boat or a larger primary tender.
Buying a Superyacht TenderProduction, semi-custom and full-custom are not a quality ladder, they are three different commercial propositions. This guide defines each tier, what they cost, the lead times, and how to pick the right one for the brief before a yard is chosen.
Buying a Superyacht TenderMost superyachts carry two or three tenders, not one. This guide sets out how many a yacht actually needs, the realistic fleet mix by size with sizing tables and worked examples, and where the garage runs out and a chase boat or support vessel takes over.
Buying a Superyacht TenderA tender purchase that closes without a clean survey, a bound insurance policy and a documented sea trial has three failure modes baked in. This guide walks the acquisition sequence we use, what good looks like at each step, and the recurring traps.
Buying a Superyacht TenderThe best beach lander drops its bow on the sand, keeps guests dry, and does not strand its propulsion or its engine cooling doing it. This is the owner's-side shortlist, the bow-ramp mechanics that decide it, and how a beach lander differs from an amphibious tender.
Buying a Superyacht TenderThe best chase boat is the independent hull that holds the mothership's transit speed and earns its keep on a real mission. This is the owner's-side shortlist by builder and size band, the specs that separate a real chase boat from a fast day boat, and the crewing reality.
Buying a Superyacht TenderThe best limousine tender is the enclosed boat that moves owner and guests ashore in any weather, in formal dress, dry, and clears the garage door. This is the owner's-side shortlist, a reference spec table, and the inputs that actually decide it.
Buying a Superyacht TenderThe best RIB tender is the one that boards forgivingly alongside the swim platform, lifts cleanly on a single point, and is built in a tube and hull spec that survives exposed yacht-side life. This is the owner's-side shortlist, the construction that decides it, and the boats worth comparing.
Buying a Superyacht TenderThere is no single best superyacht tender, the right boat is the one that fits the garage, the brief and the budget. This is the owner's-side resource: the tender types, how to size one to your yacht, the builders we shortlist by category, and the method for choosing.
Buying a Superyacht TenderMost tender purchases go wrong in the brief, not the build. This guide walks the buying process end to end, brief first, garage envelope second, propulsion third, yard shortlist fourth, contract fifth, the way we run it for owners.
Buying a Superyacht TenderPropulsion is the cross-category decision that quietly governs draft, swim-platform safety, weight and range. This guide compares waterjet, sterndrive, outboard, surface drive and IPS for a superyacht tender, head to head, with the figures and the decision order.
SOLAS coding, MCA classification, and the VAT and import paperwork that crosses borders with the boat.
A yacht tender is a vessel for VAT and customs, regardless of size. This guide is the operational version of the EU and UK rules around tender purchase, delivery and cross-border movement, the framework to use before any transaction, not legal advice.
SOLAS & Tender ComplianceA SOLAS rescue tender is type-approved life-saving equipment, mandatory on yachts of 500 GT and over in commercial service. This guide explains what the LSA Code requires, which builders hold current type approvals, and how the choice drives garage and davit design.
SOLAS & Tender ComplianceThe best SOLAS rescue tender is the one whose type approval is recognised by your flag and whose launching arrangement meets the five-minute rule, not the prettiest boat. This is the owner's-side shortlist, the certification chain to interrogate, and the regulatory framing to get right.
Garage geometry, davit selection, build slots, and the launch-and-recovery details that bite late.
The davit is the part of the tender programme nobody thinks about until it fails. This guide explains the launch-and-recovery options, the SWL and cost that drive them, and why the geometry is locked at yacht-concept stage before the tender is chosen.
Tender Build & DeliveryTender lead times are the single most under-planned variable in superyacht projects. This guide sets out the six phases of delivery, the realistic 2026 timing, 14 to 30 months for a custom build, 6 to 14 weeks for stock, and how to plan it.
Tender Build & DeliveryThe tender garage is the most expensive box on the yacht to get wrong, once built, stretching it means cutting structure. This guide works backwards from the tender envelope through the seven dimensions that actually decide which boat fits.
Reading when a refit is the right answer and when the boat is past the point.
Crew licensing, sea trials, insurance, and survey on a working tender.
Where the market is moving — electric and hybrid platforms, range, charging, and the trade-offs.