Carbon Tenders

Carbon Tenders is a specialist builder of ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre yacht tenders, designed and built in New Zealand for demanding recreational and cruising boat owners. The brand focuses on delivering big-volume performance in compact sizes, offering tenders that are easy to handle, highly capable, and optimised for real-world use around larger vessels.

The range has been designed and built by boatbuilder Paul Mackenzie, who learned his craft at the well-known Salthouse boat builders. This background informs a design philosophy centred on practical solutions for everyday tasks on the water, such as beach landings, quick stowage, and safe boarding from the mothership. Each tender reflects this practical heritage through thoughtful detailing and robust construction.

Carbon Tenders are built with all‑carbon construction, making them significantly lighter than many conventional tenders while retaining strength and durability. The boats are designed to deliver the same planing ability as longer craft, but in shorter overall lengths that require less storage space on board. A pram bow provides a large internal volume relative to length, contributing to stability, comfort, and dry rides while still keeping the overall footprint compact.

The company currently offers two compact models, the Carbon 2.8 and Carbon 3.1. Both share a common design approach that balances performance, load-carrying capacity, and ease of handling, with hull weights around 38–40 kg. These tenders are intended to be stable, dry, and straightforward to manage during launching, retrieval, and daily use by cruising crews or families.

• Carbon 2.8 – a very light tender optimised for tight garages and foredecks, sized for two people with a focus on easy handling and compact stowage.
• Carbon 3.1 – a slightly larger model offering more carrying capacity for up to four people while remaining compact and manageable.

Across the range, the brand emphasises a blend of functionality and customisation. Practical features include built-in buoyancy for positive flotation, fabric-covered foam fenders that protect both the tender and the mothership, lockable forward lockers for secure and dry storage, drop-down beach wheels that can be operated from inside the boat, and oar storage pockets to keep gear tidy and out of the way under power. These design details are intended to make day-to-day tender operations safer, simpler, and more efficient.

Carbon Tenders also offers custom colours, upholstery, and hardware layouts, allowing owners to tailor the look and functionality of their tender to their mothership and style of use. The company can advise on appropriate outboard pairings so that each tender is matched to an engine that optimises performance and handling.

Overall, Carbon Tenders positions itself as a New Zealand-built, craftsmanship-led manufacturer of high-performance, lightweight carbon tenders, distinguished by its focus on real-world usability, careful detailing, and the combination of compact size with generous internal volume and capable planing performance.