The problem a tender solves
A yacht at anchor or on a mooring needs a small boat to carry people and supplies to the shore. That small boat, usually called a tender, has been part of yachting for a long time. For centuries, any vessel too big to come alongside a quay depended on a smaller craft, and the large ships of the age of sail carried a ship jolly boat or other boats for exactly this reason. Yachts followed the same practice on a smaller scale.
The traditional answer was a rigid dinghy, usually wooden and often clinker-built, either towed behind the yacht or carried on deck or on davits. Towing worked in calm water but could be a nuisance or a hazard in rough weather. Carrying a rigid dinghy on a small yacht took up space that was often scarce. The inflatable dinghy offered a different answer: a boat that could be packed away when not needed.
From wartime stock to yacht lockers
The idea of an inflatable that could be stowed small was proven by the earlier generations of rubber boats, described in the separate article on the development of the inflatable boat. In the years after the Second World War, military surplus and new civilian production made small inflatables available at affordable prices. Many were simple oval or pointed craft with a flexible floor and a paddle or oars, and they began to appear on the decks and in the lockers of small cruising yachts.
Their appeal for the yacht tender role was practical. They were light, they could be lifted aboard by one or two people, and when deflated they fitted in a locker or a bag. Because the buoyancy tubes were soft, an inflatable did not scratch a yacht’s topsides if it bumped alongside. Soft sides also made the boat forgiving when it was handled in a swell.
Materials and construction
Early rubberised cotton boats needed careful drying and storage. From the 1950s onward, synthetic fabrics improved matters. Nylon cloth coated with neoprene, then Hypalon and PVC coatings, gave greater resistance to sunlight, salt water and abrasion. Manufacturers also improved the valves, the seams and the arrangement of separate air chambers, so that a failure in one section did not necessarily deflate the whole boat.
Floors developed in several ways. Early boats used a plain inflated or fabric floor. Later models added slatted wooden boards, plywood sections or inflatable air-deck floors, which made the boats stiffer and better to row or to carry an engine. A transom, a rigid or semi-rigid rear board, allowed a small outboard motor to be fitted, and from then on the inflatable became a motorised tender as well as a rowing boat. This was a significant change, since a motor made it practical to cover longer distances between an anchorage and a beach.
Recreational and diving use
The inflatable dinghy did not remain only a yacht accessory. Light, cheap and easy to transport in a car, it became popular as a general recreational boat for families, anglers and swimmers. Divers used inflatables as support craft, and expedition teams valued them for the same reasons that had attracted the military. Companies in Britain, France, the United States and elsewhere produced a wide range, from basic toy-like boats to sturdier models designed for outboards.
Because the same word is used for many different boats, it helps to separate the types. Tenders and leisure dinghies of this kind were generally intended for sheltered water. They are different from the rigid-hulled inflatables built for rescue and military work, and from the sail-equipped inflatables that appeared in the same period. They are also different from the sailing dinghies used for dinghy class racing, which are rigid boats designed for performance. The ordinary tender dinghy of yachting vocabulary, meanwhile, could be either rigid or inflatable.
Limits and trade-offs
Inflatables have never replaced rigid tenders entirely. Wooden and glass-fibre dinghies row better, track more precisely and last a long time. A small inflatable can be affected by wind because of its high sides and light weight, and the soft hull can feel slow to row. Many owners keep both types, using the inflatable as the practical default and a rigid dinghy for sailing or rowing. Larger yachts, particularly in the superyacht category, often carry a purpose-built rigid-hulled tender stowed in a garage in the hull.
The wider course of yacht history helps explain why the tender developed as it did. As cruising yachts became more common after the Second World War and ownership spread beyond wealthy circles, a cheap, compact tender was a practical necessity. The inflatable dinghy filled that need, and it became a standard item aboard cruising yachts.
What the record shows
The inflatable dinghy was not created by a single inventor. It grew from rubber boats made for other purposes, and its development was driven by advances in synthetic fabrics, adhesives and small outboard engines. By the 1960s and 1970s the inflatable tender was a normal sight in anchorages around the world, and its basic layout has changed relatively little since: soft tubes, a floor, a transom and a pair of oars or an outboard.