Wooden Boats is no stranger to challenges.
With its vocation of combining elegant design with efficient engineering and performance as its starting point, it has created the new WB 10.70 m LimoTender. The tender’s distinguishing feature is the movable deckhouse, which is necessary for it to be comfortably stowed in the garage of the superyacht that houses it.
The American owner who commissioned the WB 10.70 m LimoTender had no doubts: after appreciating the WB14 built for the Benetti shipyard, they wanted as similar a tender as possible for their 100 m megayacht. But the sheer size of the garage presented the boutique shipyard in Viareggio with a truly complex challenge, which its owner and founder, engineer Marco Arnaboldi, rose to with determination.
“We didn’t just stick to the mandatory dimensions in height and, of course, length,” explains the engineer from Viareggio. “In addition to the four electromechanical actuators that allow the deckhouse to be raised and lowered, complemented by a safety catch to ensure safe navigation, the WB 10.70 m LimoTender is also equipped with internal jacks to raise it during hauling operations, thus avoiding the classic cables and heavy external hooks that are very dangerous in rough sea conditions. The aesthetics of the garage, with two simple arms, improve as a result, and operations are safer and more practical.”
The WB 10.70 m LimoTender is 10.70 m long, 3 m wide and the overall height with a lowered deckhouse is 1.80 m, the same measure that her guests can enjoy inside once the deckhouse is raised. It can hold 14 people and four crew members in all.
“The owner asked for an enclosed tender to avoid problems in case of bad weather or rough seas,” continues Arnaboldi. “The designer Giorgio Cassetta has therefore studied a very tapered profile which guarantees 360° internal visibility thanks to the vertical windows all around the perimeter of the square, the same windows that descend along the side when the tender is closed; all this is completed by a large skylight. Inside, there are sofas around the perimeter to accommodate up to 14 people, equipped with foldaway armrests as on the most exclusive cars. There are no tables in the centre and all functions can be controlled through the domotics system, from air conditioning to lighting. The choice of furnishing materials and the hull and deck colours match those of the mothership, with extensive use of solid teak on the exterior.”
The outfitting of the WB 10.70 m LimoTender has already started in the Viareggio shipyard and includes the construction of the refined carbon composite/PVC foam sandwich that characterises all the tenders made by Wooden Boats. The tender is powered by two Volvo Penta D3 diesel engines (220 hp each) with stern drive, capable of a top speed of 35 knots and a cruising speed of 25 knots, with a range of 200 nautical miles. Delivery is scheduled for spring 2022.
Studio Arnaboldi & Wooden Boats
Founded in 1984, the Arnaboldi naval engineering office offers highly specialised services in the field of luxury displacement and planing yachts, as well in the fields of military and commercial boats.
Studio Arnaboldi has collaborated with leading Italian brands such as Benetti, Sanlorenzo, Pershing, Mangusta (Effebi), Admiral, SA, Perini, VSY, Rossinavi, Azimut and Baglietto and has also worked with top designer names, including Della Rolle Giacomelli, Ginugiaro Design, Tommaso Spadolini, Giorgio Cassetta, Marco Casali, Francesco Paszkowski, Luca Dini and Guido De Groot.
Studio Arnaboldi has developed well over a hundred projects using the latest construction technology and propulsion innovations. After Marco Arnaboldi and his father Angelo set up AB Yachts (now part of the Fipa Group), the studio is considered one the leading experts in waterjet-powered, planing yachts, and not only. In 2019 the company won the complete project for 7 new 44-metre Frontex patrol boats for the Italian Finance guard with speeds close to 50 knots, under construction at EFFEBI SPA.
Wooden Boats is a natural extension of the studio’s innovative approach to yacht building and aims to combine elegant design with efficient engineering and outstanding performance.
