Hodgdon Yachts launched a brand new 8-meter tender on Monday, Oct. 27 at the Hodgdon Yacht Services yard in Southport. The boat’s styling and Naval architecture is by a French design team, while the engineering is by the Hodgdon team. The boat was built at Hodgdon Yachts’ Damariscotta facility and is the first of the new Hodgdon “Crossover” line of yacht tenders.

Hodgdon CEO Tim Hodgdon said, “The hull is fabricated from infused foam-cored e-glass and epoxy with structurally reinforced areas of carbon fiber. The T-top, mast and many of the details are carbon fiber.”

The boat will going to Italy after sea-trials. It has some unique features including the “beach lander” bow that opens up and folds out to become a platform step for easier beach access.

Hodgdon hopes this will be the first of many tenders with this design; the yard is already building a 10.5-meter version for a large yacht in Germany.

“The Crossover line allows us to add a contemporary, European-styling look to our product line,” said Hodgdon. “It’s an exciting addition. Our Venetian line continues to be very successful and we have orders currently under construction.”