This week saw the US builder Hodgdon ship its Hull 413 yacht tender to the Netherlands. Hull 413 boat is another one of Hodgdon’s lovely custom tenders, built for a prominent European shipyard.
Hodgdon launched the recent-era initiative to build superyacht tenders about three years ago. In that time they have shipped three of the ultra high end tenders and have three more under construction.
HODGDON CUSTOM TENDERS is the newest division in the Hodgdon Shipbuilding organization whose specialty is building custom and semi-custom tenders that serve the large yacht market (typically more than 80m in length).
The Hodgdon team recently returned from the Monaco Yacht Show where there was considerable interest in the company’s custom and semi-custom tender program from many superyacht projects from around the world.
The superyacht industry is one of the most skilled-labor intensive industries in the world. Each custom tender takes many thousands of skilled worker hours to complete. Once delivered, there are many hundreds of hours required to maintain the tenders in world class condition for the owner and guests to enjoy.
Hodgdon currently employs more than 120 workers, the vast majority of whom are highly skilled craftsmen and women. The HODGDON CUSTOM TENDERS division alone employs more than 15 in the Murray Hill facility of the East Boothbay-based company.
Hodgdon was founded in 1816, and is still family owned.The company’s divisions include HODGDON FINE INTERIORS, building high end superyacht interiors (up to 80M), HODGDON YACHTS, specializing in custom sail and power yacht construction (up to 60M), HODGDON DEFENSE COMPOSITES building specialized defense craft and HODGDON CUSTOM TENDERS building the world’s finest superyacht tenders.