Superyacht Tenders | Specs, Builders, Buying Guide

Guest and crew tenders for everyday yacht operations.

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Tenders buyer notes

01

About tenders

This category covers the working core of the superyacht tender fleet: open guest tenders, crew and owner tenders, jet tenders, ski boats, and production-platform utility craft. Compare new and pre-owned boats by builder, length, propulsion, and role.

What is a superyacht tender?
A tender is any small craft carried by, or operated from, the mothership, the boat that moves people, kit and provisions between yacht and shore. On a private yacht the term covers everything launched from the garage or stowed on deck; on a commercially registered yacht, flag and class rules apply specific carriage and rescue obligations to the boats on the safety equipment certificate.
How much does a superyacht tender cost?
Headline budget bands before options, transport and refit allowance: 5 to 7m basic RIB or jet tender 60,000 to 250,000 EUR; 7 to 9m semi-custom open or RIB 250,000 to 700,000 EUR; 9 to 11m semi-custom limo or sport 700,000 to 1,800,000 EUR; 11 to 14m custom limo or chase-tender 1,800,000 to 4,500,000 EUR; over 14m full custom 4,500,000 EUR and up.
How many tenders does a superyacht carry?
Most yachts carry two or three, not one. A common pattern is a covered limo or limo-tender for guest transfer, a sport tender or RIB for watersports, and a crew or working tender on davits or aft deck. The mix depends on programme, garage geometry, and what the captain will actually use.
What is the difference between a tender and a chase boat?
A tender is launched from the mothership and lives in the garage. A chase boat is its own platform, runs under its own crew, and follows the yacht under power. The crossover sits around 11 to 14 metres, where some boats can do both jobs.
How long does a custom superyacht tender take to build?
A semi-custom 9m limousine on a new yacht is typically a 30 to 36 month build cycle. Full custom programmes run 18 to 36 months for the boat itself, often longer when garage integration drives the timeline.

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Featured guides

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The Complete Guide to Buying a Superyacht Tender

Most 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.

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Tender Garage Sizing: Matching Tender to Mothership

The 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.

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Custom vs Semi-Custom vs Production Tenders

Production, 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.

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Tender Insurance, Survey and Sea Trials

A 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.

Library

Browse the tenders library

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Catamaran Tenders

A catamaran tender trades the speed of a deep-vee monohull for deck area, stability at rest, and shallow draft. It earns its place as a watersports, dive, or beach-day platform, not a guest transfer boat.

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Cost of a Superyacht Tender

The headline build price is 60 to 75 percent of a tender's lifetime cost. Commissioning, transport, VAT, refit cycles, and operating cost make up the rest, and operating runs 8 to 15 percent of build value a year.

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Crew & Working Tenders

A crew or working tender does the unglamorous work: provisioning runs, laundry, crew rotation, and fuelling logistics. It is specified for cargo, durability, and single-crew handling, not guest comfort.

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Custom Tenders

A custom tender is designed from a clean sheet for a specific yacht, garage, and programme. True custom runs 24 to 42 months and costs 50 to 100 percent above an equivalent semi-custom, and the garage demands it in roughly 60 percent of cases.

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Electric & Hybrid Tenders

An electric or hybrid tender suits short-cycle work where range is bounded and noise and emissions matter. Pure-electric works at 6 to 10m, giving 12 to 25 nautical miles of planing range; above that, hybrid is the realistic answer.

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How to Choose a Superyacht Tender

Start from the brief, not the boat. The mothership, the cruising programme, and the role mix set the envelope before any preference matters, and most yachts above 50m carry two or three tenders rather than one boat doing everything.

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Jet Tenders

A jet tender uses a waterjet instead of a propeller, spanning from the 2.85m Williams DieselJet to 14m Castoldi platforms. No exposed prop and a flat underbelly make it the default for tight, height-constrained garages under 60m.

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New Tenders

A new tender is a fresh-from-yard build: production, semi-custom, or full custom. Production delivers in 4 to 9 months and full custom in 18 to 24, but a new boat drops 15 to 25 percent in resale value in the first year.

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Open Guest Tenders

An open guest tender has no fixed cabin or hardtop, favouring deck space and swim-platform access over weather protection. It is the volume choice for fair-weather hops and runs 15 to 30 percent below the limousine version of the same hull.

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Semi-Custom Tenders

A semi-custom tender keeps the hull and layout fixed while the owner chooses engine, electronics, trim and finish. It delivers in 9 to 15 months against 18 to 24 for full custom.

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Sport Tenders

A sport tender is a guest-carrying day boat that prioritises performance and driving feel over cargo volume. Most sit between 8m and 14m and cruise in the high thirties to mid forties knots.

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Superyacht Tender Builders: The Landscape

An authoritative overview of the yards that build the world's superyacht tenders, how the field divides, and how to shortlist a builder against your brief.

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Superyacht Tender Sizes: Matching Tender to Yacht

How tender length is set by the mothership and its garage, the typical size bands by yacht length, and the trade between volume and capability.

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Tender Buying Process

Buying a superyacht tender is closer to a build project than a boat purchase. A custom build runs 18 to 30 months from brief to a tender on the mothership, staged across eight steps.

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Tender Classification Rules

Once a tender is carried commercially or crosses length and capacity thresholds, flag-state, class and code rules apply. Most ship as CE Category B or C; over 500GT triggers SOLAS rescue duty.

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Tender Delivery and Logistics

How a new or bought tender actually reaches the yacht, from build slot to commissioning, and how to fit it around the itinerary.

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Tender Finance & Leasing

Most superyacht tenders close in cash, but finance and lease structures suit charter fleets and treasury cases. Loan-to-value caps at 60 to 75% over a 5 to 10 year term.

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Tender Garage Sizing

Tender choice is set by garage geometry, not the wish list. Four dimensions bind the fit, and a nominal 9.0m by 2.6m boat needs a 9.4m by 2.9m clear envelope once strops and fendering are added.

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Tender Import & VAT

Tender tax turns on where it is delivered, where it is operated, and the carrying yacht's status. EU rates run 17 to 27%, the UK 20%, and a tax-paid yacht's tender usually inherits its status.

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Superyacht Tender Insurance

How a superyacht tender is insured, when it sits under the mothership policy, and what changes the moment it is used commercially or for charter.

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Tender Launch & Recovery

Most tender damage on a working yacht happens during launch or recovery, not under way. Lift geometry, load-rated points, crane SWL margin and crew procedure decide whether a boat lifts clean in a swell.

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Tender Maintenance

A well-maintained tier-one tender holds 65-75% of new value after five years; the same hull run on reactive maintenance sits at 40-50%. A structured schedule is the highest-leverage spend in tender ownership.

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Tender Refit Guide

A well-built tender runs 15-20 years with planned refit cycles. A refit at year 7-10 typically returns another 5-10 years of service for 30-50% of new build cost, if the hull, lifting points and garage fit still check out.

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Superyacht Tender Sea Trials and Acceptance

A tender sea trial is where the spec sheet meets the water, and it is the last point at which a problem costs the yard money rather than the owner.

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Tender Specification Guide

A specification document is the bridge between a brief and a built boat. A usable tender spec covers eight areas, from mothership role and dry-weight target through to sea-trial pass criteria and handover documentation.

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Tender Storage & Transport

Tenders spend more time stored than running, and how they are stored and moved drives hull life, finish quality and the operating budget. On-board stowage, off-season options and transport between cruising grounds all turn on the mothership's geometry.

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Tender vs Chase Boat

A tender lives on the mothership and carries guests or crew over short distances, typically 4-16m. A chase boat follows on its own keel, running 150-400nm independently to extend range and carry toys.

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Used & Pre-Owned Tenders

A pre-owned tender sells for 25-40% below a comparable new build and delivers in weeks rather than months, and the best-kept boats present near-new. The case for used is stronger than it usually gets credit for.

Glossary

Tenders terms worth knowing

Jet DriveWaterjet propulsion that draws water through an inlet and expels it through a steerable nozzle.DavitHinged crane used to launch and recover a tender from the mothership.LOALength overall: the maximum length of the hull including any extensions.VATValue-added tax payable on yacht tender sales; status (paid, ex-VAT, IP) governs cross-border use.

Destinations

Where these boats work

Monaco

Monaco

The densest large-yacht harbour in the world runs a captain-led tender market that peaks hard around the Grand Prix.

France

Antibes

Port Vauban is the deepest tender-trade pool on the Med, and the calendar runs on Cannes and Monaco show prep.

Spain

Palma de Mallorca

Palma is the deepest brokerage and refit market for superyacht tenders in Europe, and the western Med's busiest spring re-spec window.

USA

Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale is the largest concentrated superyacht tender market in the Americas and the West's busiest refit-and-transport hub.

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