Our goal - Safe, Fast, Stable, Fun, Beautiful and Long-lasting.   After an exhaustive search, we couldn't find a boat on the market with what we believe is the right combination of essential features. 

        So we built one - The Bluewater Baby.  When we designed and built this tender, we were building our own Bluewater Baby.  Now you too can benefit from our efforts to produce the finest yacht tender.

        The Watercats design team has more than thirty years of near daily experience using a variety of tenders, ranging from an inflatable to a sailing dinghy to a converted aluminum fishing boat, and everything in between.   

        Using this experience and knowledge, we started with a blank sheet of paper for the design.  We added a master mold maker and a master boatbuilder to the mix and created what we believe is the Ultimate Yacht Tender - the Bluewater Baby.  In the following paragraphs, we will attempt to define our philosophy regarding a proper yacht tender.

THE BEST BUILDING MATERIAL

        A quality boat begins with quality building materials.  We first looked at the materials used in modern boatbuilding - fiberglass, wood, aluminum, the pressurized fabric of inflatables, and molded plastic. 

        Next we compared each to the requirements of a tender, 1) strength and 2) puncture resistance for safety, 3) light weight for ease of use, 4) pleasing appearance for fun, 5) resistance to the elements for a long life, 6) ease and success of a repair, and 7) maintenance requirements to maintain appearance.  

        Our completely subjective results follow.

   5 - best ,  1 - worst 

FIBERGLASS WINS BY LANDSLIDE!

The Results.  

        Appearance, maintenance

        Your tender is often subjected to its own specific type of abuse - from rocky beaches, concrete docks, and other tenders. A beautiful tender is important to most boaters, but beauty which requires extensive maintenance is unsuitable in our minds.    Unless tender maintenance is your hobby, you must have a low maintenance boat in order to have a good appearance.

        Varnished wood is probably the most beautiful of boatbuilding materials, but it takes a dedicated person and a lot of hard work to maintain wood.   Some would say an unpainted aluminum tender is ruggedly beautiful, but it takes a lot of expensive painting and maintenance to get a "yacht finish" aluminum tender.  And from experience, we know that paint on an aluminum boat is an iffy proposition.

     Fiberglass can be molded into pleasing shapes and colors, and requires almost no maintenance because of the thick layer of gelcoat. 

    Although aluminum rated high in strength, it lost heavily in the ease of repair section because it requires a very knowledgeable welder with expensive equipment.  Inflatables also did not fare well in the repair field simply because a glued-on patch can never be that secure in our minds.   Wood repairs are available almost everywhere which is a good thing since wood has the unfortunate tendency to rot away if not maintained.  Fiberglass requires only some easily obtainable cloth and resin.   The repair job is easy, quick, and secure.   

       The Bluewater Baby is made from hand laid up bi-directional E glass fiberglass.  This allows the technicians to orient the strands of fiberglass in the direction of the greatest anticipated loads.  In deck areas there is vacuum bagged, glassed-in polypropylene honeycomb- just like in high end custom yachts.  In the transom we use Penske or Cousa board.  They are very strong high density foam boards laced with fiberglass fibers.  Absolutely no wood is used in the Bluewater Baby.   The result - light weight and very strong and no rotting - ever!

        Light weight means ease of use

        It's a fact of life that at some point you will be called on to move your tender by muscle power.  Whether pushing off a beach or swinging her onto the yacht, the lighter the better in a dinghy.   

        We take great pains to make the Bluewater Baby, Barefooter, and Bluewater Lady as light as possible by using high tech polypropylene honeycomb in the deck.  A material only found in high end custom yachts.  Our bidirectional fiberglass is carefully laid by hand to ensure the lightest and strongest glass to resin ratio.   But light weight at the expense of strength is unacceptable.

THE HOW AND WHY OF THE DESIGN

A.  SAFETY

         Exploring in the dinghy from your yacht or simply going out for a day's fishing, you count on your boat to return you safely.  It is unthinkable to explore in a boat that will puncture and sink.    Unfortunately, inflatables are prone to puncture from rocks, reefs, spear gun tips, barnacles, etc.    Incredibly, inflatables are somehow exempted from Coast Guard safety regulations designed to protect you, the boater, and we know of none that contain floatation foam.  Puncture just one of the tubes in an inflatable, and you will be in the water! 

    Any single skinned tender upon puncture will fill with water.   Because of Coast Guard mandatory flotation, they probably will not sink, but they certainly won't motor home.

        With their separate and sealed deck & added foam flotation, the Bluewater Baby and Bluewater Lady will transport you safely back even if the hull were somehow holed.   

B.  THE HULL DESIGN

        There are two distinct divisions in small boats - those designed to motor and those that are designed to row.  (Almost all inflatables are nearly impossible to row well and must be motored.)

        The motoring styled hull generally has a flat run aft which encourages planning.  That is, the forward part of the hull lifts clear of the water at a certain speed, reducing friction.   In other words, it's Fast!  The rounded tube hull form forced on inflatables is one of the most inefficient hull forms a boat can have and is the reason behind the large outboards required of even small inflatables.  Also the rubber tubes on an inflatable are not rigid and can compress in the water adding to inefficient motoring.  

        The sailing or rowing hull has a much more rounded shape. Typically it may employ a 5 H.P. engine or less, achieving speeds of 5 or 6 knots, and will not go any faster no matter how much horsepower is applied.   The optimum shape for rowing is not the optimum shape for  motoring.  Yet, the faster the tender, the more your cruising horizons are expanded.

         A yacht's tender is required to transport its passengers with safety and comfort and keep them dry when they want to be dry.  This requires a high degree of stability from a hull form that will shoulder aside waves.  Because of the restrictions on the hull form, no sailing or rowing influenced hull has the stability or dryness of a motorboat styled hull. 

        The Bluewater Baby hull  is a "modified" tri-hull design.  It is extremely stable yet has enough vee in the hull to split the waves and provide a dry ride.   And, it is very fast;  speeds in the 20's have been clocked with the standard 20 H.P. engine.   With the 25 Hp Tohatsu, a Bluewater Baby has been clocked at over 34 mph.  We believe that the responsible mariner should never exceed a safe or necessary speed.

        The Bluewater Baby has a full keel.  This serves two purposes.  When towed, the Bluewater Baby will track much straighter.  Too, every yacht tender will be called on to transport its occupants to a beach, and often may be pulled onto the beach or end up resting on the beach after the tide goes out.  The keel on our boat is sacrificial and solid glass so that it can take the brunt of the abuse and even if worn away will not allow the hull to be breached. 

C.  Convenience

        It's been a long hard trip, but you finally made it and are now anchored in some exotic port of call.    Time to go ashore.   All passengers are aboard and it's off to the dinghy dock.  Upon approaching, you notice that the dock is completely crowded with other tenders and there is no way you can lie alongside - you are forced to nose into the dock and exit your tender from the bow.  By this measure alone the Bluewater Baby deck  with its wide foredeck provides virtually the safest entrance and exit of any tender on the market.  As a matter of fact, stepping into the bow of most tenders is a quick invitation for a swim. 

         The Bluewater Baby's unique molded-in nonskid on foredeck and side decks provides safe footing and reduces maintenance by not holding water and dirt.  The side decks are wide and uncluttered - wide enough to step on but narrow enough to step over easily. 

        Our walk- around Center Console provides a host of benefits.  It allows those in the rear seat to move easily forward without stepping over seats or people, and it also provides lockable storage which houses the starting battery.  

    The forward console seat provides a comfortable seat for the second occupant which keeps weight centered for greater cornering capabilities.   Unlike those in inflatables, passengers in the Bluewater Baby ride dry and protected - well away from the sides of the boat

D. QUALITY

        The hardware installed on the Bluewater Baby is the best available.  No exception and no excuses! We use a  custom waterproof aluminum switch panel for the running lights and automatic bilge pump  -  just like your yacht.   We provide four dedicated stainless steel lift points that are each rated to carry a load of more than sixty times the weight of the Bluewater Baby.  There are more than 7 stainless cleats and rings on the Bluewater Baby to allow secure tying in a variety of situations.  All are necessary and non are superfluous.

    A standard stainless steel towing ring allows towing and the stainless steel wheel is strong, light weight and adds a touch of elegance.

        In short - we have spared no expense to make the Bluewater Baby, Bluewater Lady,  & Barefooter the finest boats available.

Specifications and prices subject to change without notice.