Fenders are not usually a product that comes to mind when superyacht owners think “elegance in design.” Paul Buyse wondered, Why not?
“It has to be practical, but if you’re paying hundreds of millions for a superyacht, you should have products that are nice,” he says.
His company, Carboncraft, was founded in 2022 with a focus on yacht products that are often afterthoughts in terms of styling. Carboncraft makes things like fenders, awning systems, swim ladders and passerelles. At this month’s Metstrade industry show in Amsterdam, Carboncraft will be promoting the beach setup shown above. The company sees it as a lightweight, stylish alternative to options that superyacht crew currently use.
“If a superyacht goes to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, all they want is to have lunch at a beach,” Buyse says. “They can take the whole interior to the beach, but it’s a real mission. We created a full carbon set with four poles and an awning. There’s a foldable carbon table, carbon director’s chairs. In less than 40 minutes, you’ve got shade, chairs, a table—everything you need to serve lunch.”
All the products are carbon, made in three styles. The inner body is always the same, but the outside can be a clear coat that lets the carbon fiber show through (think auto industry). It can also be covered in another material, such as teak veneer, or any color the yacht owner desires. As an example of that last option, Carboncraft worked with the Amels shipyard to create products that matched a yacht’s specific shade of baby blue.
“Sometimes we get the paint delivered by the yard,” Buyse says. “We can use exactly the same paint that the yard is using.”
In many ways, Buyse says, the only limitation is imagination. He thinks of products such as bicycles or baby strollers that, in the past, all looked essentially the same. Nowadays, there are all kinds of styles, some of them truly elegant.
“We have our own ideas, but we listen to the market,” he says. “We just finished a flagpole for a tender. It’s clear-coat carbon. The designer sent us the drawings, and we made it. We have no minimum order quantity, and we will make it to order.”
Tender Fender
Carboncraft’s vertical Tender Fender has several purposes. First is to keep the tender from scraping against the boat. Second is to prevent waves from knocking the tender under the swim platform by blocking it above and below the waterline. Third is to look far more upscale than typical fenders. “We’re not the first company to make this, except one is more ugly than the other,” says company founder Paul Buyse. “We came up with a lovely design.”
