T E N D E R T E C H By Josh Richardson Superyacht Tenders and Toys josh@sytt.co With the ever-growing tech bubble that shapes our modern world comes a whole new scope for weird and wonderful features that make the new age of tenders a sight to behold. Gone are the days when tinted windows or plush seats are enough, it has now become a challenge to produce a tender that is beyond what anyone has seen before, with gadgets that even the wealthiest among us could not imagine. After all, impressing an owner that has seen everything, is no mean feat. The philosophy of a 21st century custom tender manufacturer is whatever you want, and it is then created. The production boat has its place on many yachts but for owners who want the best there is an increasing emphasis on coming up with personalised individual tenders, often matching the mothership. The mind-set that
Air-Conditioned Seating
anything is possible opens an unlimited number of doors and means that although it can be claimed that yachts and tenders have been behind other forms of transport in the technology race, that is not necessarily any longer the case. As this goes to press Superyacht Tenders and Toys have 10 fully custom boats in build for clients, where they have been designed from the ground up to meet the client’s requirements with many features that push the boundaries. With this experience we have put together some of the latest trends and requests for readers interest.
Interior Deck-head Design
When it becomes difficult to think of what can’t be placed in a boat you know you are headed in the right direction. With underwater lights, electric swim ladders and mega sound systems becoming a regular on the spec. sheet, where do you go next? When you sit down in the office one day and start having a joke about what you might want in a tender that then turns into proposal of ideas ranging from wireless kill cords to air-conditioned seating, you start to realise what can be achieved. Matching what can actually be built and be reliable is key here but for the brainstorming there are no stupid idea’s. If an interactive deck head in the cabin of a 40ft Limousine tender doesn’t impress, then it is by no means the bottom of the barrel. As the size of your average superyacht gets larger so does the size of the tenders that service them and this often allows more room for creativity, which there is no shortage of in a world where money is no object. Even, what has become a relatively mundane feature, is now being pimped into something more. The likes of JL and Fusion creating monster speaker systems is now not only a feature in wakeboard boats but can be seen in a variety of custom tenders. One recent project had tower speakers coming up out of the hulls of a catamaran landing craft, which rotated to the beach, so the client could create a DJ booth and entertain guests on
the beach for a party! There are also some great features being passed over from homes, offices and cars where there are large R & D budgets to come up with new products and features. Your standard fridge on board a tender is no longer a cooler box in an under-seat locker but can be anything up to a fully stocked interactive wine fridge with media screen, and when coupled with chilled cup holders a cool drink on a hot day is never far away. One current project we even have titanium chilled champagne glasses embossed with the client’s logo as an example. With all of this obviously comes a price tag and considerations into design, fabrication and support of using emerging tech and products. As well as this, as we know, custom has a price tag and thus on the other production or semi-custom tenders we have in build full custom is not appropriate for every client. There is a lot to be said for having proven reliable technology