Wooden Boats LimoTender BLU 8.3M Is a Modern Vintage Tender

A tender that calls to mind the style of motorboats from the 1950s and 1960s is catching attention. Although it was supposed to be a one-off project, Wooden Boats’ LimoTender BLU 8.3m is becoming a series with significant customization possibilities.

Marco Arnaboldi established Wooden Boats in 2012 to blend time-honored wooden construction with higher-tech composites and carbon fiber. In reflecting on the above-mentioned classic craft upon which movie stars often cruised, he penned a 27-footer (8.4-meter) with rounded, sloping lines. (Arnaboldi also heads the design firm Studio Arnaboldi.) In fact, Arnaboldi was inspired by a famous film of that era, Federico Fellini’s Dolce Vita. He further envisioned a good turn of speed, 35 knots at top end. The owner of a 179-footer (55-meter) liked the design and commissioned Wooden Boats to build it. The result, this LimoTender BLU 8.3m, saw delivery last summer, then exhibited at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.

Wooden Boats LimoTender BLU 8.3M interior

That’s when things really took off. “It has aroused a lot of interest,” Arnaboldi shares. “I already have a number of appointments in Monte Carlo with owners who are very curious to see the first model so they can finalize an order based on their own tastes.”

With a beam of nearly 9 feet (2.7 meters), the first LimoTender BLU 8.3m has several features that should tick the right boxes. Two facing settees in air-conditioned comfort and open seating fully aft accommodate 12 passengers, for instance. Mahogany, teak, and leather figure prominently in the interior. So, too, do other creature comforts like USB ports, a six-speaker sound system, Wi-Fi, and indirect LED lighting. Additionally, the tender has a folding, ample swim platform, since guests enjoy a good swim.

For the crew’s convenience, the tender can go in a dedicated tender garage, or the mothership can tow it. In fact, the deckhouse lowers to sit even with the gunwale, making the tender stand just shy of five feet (1.5 meters). This therefore suits tender bays with shallow overhead clearance. When the deckhouse is fully extended, guests have 5’9” (1.8 meters) of headroom inside.

Arnaboldi emphasizes that future LimoTender BLU 8.3m buyers can arrange their modern-vintage crafts in multiple ways. “The bridge might be at the stern and the sofa in the bow,” he says, for an example. The owner of the 197-footer who commissioned the tender here specifically wanted a far-forward wheelhouse. That look is reminiscent of the famous Venetian water taxis.

Wooden Boats LimoTender BLU 8.3M forward wheelhouse

Regardless of design, Arnaboldi has engineered the tender with a deep-V hull for either inboard or stern-drive power. Finally, and even when fully loaded, the tender should see a cruising speed of 30 knots.

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