Rise above the rest
ONBOARD talks with Peter Emmons, Technical Manager at Superyacht Tenders and Toys about their mission to design and manufacture best-in-class superyacht inflatables
What features do you incorporate as standard? We’ve learnt the hard way through our own experiences of working on superyachts and that’s why we only use soft loop ties on all our inflatables. This prevents paintwork damage and eliminates corrosion. We’ve also developed a super-safe
quick zip
system making our modular inflatables effortless to set up. The advantages are two-fold, with the rigidity of the system substantially increasing safety. Finally, our non-slip removable covers can be printed in any design!
Where do you manufacture your inflatables? We’ve moved away from production in China, investing heavily in a modern facility in Europe. This means our team stay in close control of all projects, avoiding the pitfalls and frustrations faced when manufacturing on the other side of the world. It’s also vastly cheaper and quicker to distribute our finished products to customers in the Med.
Which materials do you prefer to work with? We are making great strides with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).
This
is a material that possesses a heap of technical and environmental advantages over the current industry-wide choice of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC is inherently brittle and requires the addition of plasticisers to give it pliability. It’s these plasticisers that leach harmful chemicals into the ocean.
What inspired the concept for Superyacht Inflatables? We’ve been designing inflatables for almost a decade. Yet in recent years, particularly with the advancement in materials technology, we found ourselves becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of innovation and environmental awareness throughout the industry.
With such versatility in our team and decades of experience in the yachting industry, we decided to develop our brand, with our own manufacturing — giving rise to Superyacht Inflatables.
What is your long-term aim with Superyacht Inflatables? For all its charm and splendour, yachting presents one of the most unforgiving environments for any exterior product to withstand. Therefore, our overarching aim is to create custom inflatables with extreme durability in mind (whilst meeting the expected superyacht aesthetics and inevitable storage issues). We’re already offering inflatables with the highest degree of abrasion and saltwater resistance over any comparable product on the market, but we’re also developing solutions that can be repurposed at the end of their working life.
TPU on the other hand is a fully melt- processable thermoplastic, which by its very nature, is highly flexible.
Despite its high price to produce, we are determined to manufacture inflatables for the superyacht market that are almost entirely recyclable. Not only does our premium grade TPU not leach harmful chemicals in to the ocean, it is also resistant to oil, grease, solvents and chemicals and has excellent tensile strength and abrasion resistance. These factors therefore add to the life of the product which in turn benefits the owner and the planet.
22 | SUMMER 2022 | ONBOARD
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