Novurania
- Category: superyacht tenders and rigid inflatable boats
- Roots: 1950s Italy, when Adelmo Pellegrini and Pietro Caresano merged their businesses to form Urania at Tione di Trento
- Founded: Novurania established in 1964 to build inflatable boats
- United States arm: Novurania of America established in 1983, production moved to Florida in 1991
- Based: Vero Beach, Florida
- Range: 3.4 m to 11.6 m across the Chase, LX, Catamaran, Como and DL series
- Chase 38: 11.6 m, 3.1 m beam, 21 people, twin Volvo D6 380 hp, 833 litres of fuel
- LX 750: 7.5 m limousine tender, 2.7 m beam, 15 people, up to 44 knots on outboards
- Catamaran series: hydraulic bow ramp for beach landings, Cat 20 to Cat 28
- DL series: 3.4 m to 5.5 m side-console RIBs from 4 to 9 people
- Tubes: made in house, neoprene inside and Hypalon outside
- Prices: not published, quoted boat by boat through the yard or dealer
From a Trentino fabric mill to Florida
The business began in the 1950s at Tione di Trento, where Adelmo Pellegrini and Pietro Caresano were competitors in protective garments before merging to form Urania, a maker of rubber-coated fabric. In 1964 the same founders started Novurania to put that fabric into inflatable boats. By the 1970s the company was an international name in the category, and in the 1980s the two businesses merged under the Novurania name as American demand grew.
Novurania of America was set up in 1983 to serve United States customers, began domestic production in California in 1989 with the MX 430, described by the company as the first American-built RIB, and moved manufacturing to Florida in 1991. The operation is now at Vero Beach on the Atlantic coast. That location puts it inside the Florida marine cluster and close to the yachts that use its boats through the winter.
What the range covers
Five series and two standalone models cover 3.4 m to 11.6 m. The DL series is the simple end, side-console RIBs from the 3.4 m DL 335 carrying four people at 24 knots up to the 5.5 m DL 550 carrying nine on a 115 hp outboard at 41 knots. These are the boats that get used every day for beach runs and provisioning, and they are the ones that take the abuse.
Above them sit the LX limousine tenders, the Chase series and the catamarans, plus the Como line and the individual TR 270 and GS 420. The structure of the range is unusual in that it does not step neatly by length. A yacht may take a 5.5 m DL for daily work and a 7.5 m LX for guests, and the two boats are built to different briefs entirely.
One of the last tender builders that still makes the fabric its boats are wrapped in.
The LX and Chase tenders
The LX series is the guest tender. Four boats run from the 6 m LX 600 to the 7.5 m LX 750, all on a 2.7 m beam with a 0.58 m tube, carrying ten to fifteen people. Outboard versions reach 42 to 44 knots and inboard diesel versions 37 knots. The consistent beam across the series matters, because it means a garage sized for one LX will take a longer one.
The Chase series is the faster and more serious boat. The 5.8 m Chase 19 runs a single Yanmar 4LV of 195 hp for ten people, the 8.3 m Chase 27 offers a 320 hp Volvo D4 or twin Yanmars and reaches 38 knots, and the 9.5 m Chase 31 will do 51 knots on twin outboards. At the top the 11.6 m Chase 38 carries 21 people on twin Volvo D6 380 hp diesels with 833 litres of fuel.
The catamarans and the bow ramp
The catamaran series is the part of the range that solves a problem specific to large yachts. Every model carries a hydraulically operated bow ramp, so guests walk off onto a beach without wading and without a second dinghy. The Cat 20 at 6.1 m is the beach lander proper, and the Cat 24 at 7.3 m carries ten people at 43 knots on a 250 hp outboard or a Yanmar diesel.
The twin hull format buys stability at rest, which is what makes these boats useful for diving, for loading luggage and for elderly or nervous guests. The Cat 28 at 8.7 m and 3.3 m beam carries fourteen on twin 200 hp outboards. The trade is beam. A catamaran tender eats garage width, and on many yachts that is the dimension in shortest supply.
How they are built
Novurania makes its own tube fabric, which almost no other tender builder does. The material is layered with neoprene on the inside and Hypalon on the outside, a construction chosen for resistance to delamination, abrasion, mould and colour loss. Hypalon tubes cost more than the PVC used on cheaper RIBs and last considerably longer in Mediterranean and Caribbean sun, which is the difference an owner sees in year five.
The company has been vertically integrated since the 2000s, with engineering and design in house and production controlled under one roof. Boats are specified individually. That means an owner can match upholstery, deck, hardware and colour to the mothership, and it also means lead times are set by the order book. Novurania publishes no standard specification sheet with weights, which is normal at this end of the market.
Fitting one to the yacht
The dimensions that decide everything are length, beam and height. An LX at 2.7 m beam and 1.82 m high will fit a garage that a 3.3 m beam catamaran will not. A Chase 38 at 11.6 m is not a garage boat at all and lives on deck or on a hydraulic platform. The practical rule is to fix the tender before the garage is finalised, which is why yards involve tender builders early.
Weight is the other half and Novurania does not publish it, so the figure has to come through the yard. It matters because a davit or crane has to lift the boat with fuel aboard and in some swell. An owner refitting an existing yacht should have the naval architect confirm the lifting arrangement against the actual weight of the chosen boat and engine, before the order is placed.
What it costs
Novurania publishes no prices. Every boat is quoted individually through the yard or a dealer, and specification drives the number more than length does. Engine choice is the largest single variable, with a twin diesel inboard installation costing far more than a single outboard on the same hull, and the custom upholstery, teak, hardware and paint that make a tender match the yacht add up quickly.
Running cost follows the engine. Yanmar and Volvo diesels are common marine units with service networks everywhere a yacht goes, and parts are ordinary inventory. The consumables are the tubes and the upholstery. Hypalon tubes tolerate sun and abrasion far better than PVC but they are not permanent, and a tender that lives on a hot teak platform through two Mediterranean summers shows it.
Service and support through a season
The company's centre of gravity is Florida, which suits a yacht wintering in the Caribbean or the Bahamas. Vero Beach is inside the American marine supply chain, so hull, tube and fitting work is straightforward on that side of the Atlantic. In the Mediterranean the practical route is a dealer or a refit yard, and Italian origins mean the fabric and tube skills exist in the region.
Most in-season problems on a tender of this kind are engine problems, and those are solved by Yanmar and Volvo networks that reach every cruising ground. Tube repair is a specialist job but a common one in any large marina. The parts that take time are the custom items, because a matched upholstery panel or a piece of shaped hardware has to be made.
Against Williams, Pascoe and the custom yards
Williams Jet Tenders dominates the small jet tender market and is the default fit on many production yachts. Pascoe International builds bespoke limousine tenders for the largest yachts and competes at a different price level. Novurania sits between them, with a catalogue range that can be customised heavily and a size ladder that reaches from a 3.4 m dinghy to an 11.6 m chase boat.
Where Novurania wins is breadth and the in-house tube. One builder can supply the daily beach boat, the guest limousine and the beach-landing catamaran, all finished to match. Where it loses is on the jet-drive question. Owners who want a propeller-free tender for swimming areas will look at Williams or at a Castoldi-driven boat, and owners commissioning a fully bespoke limousine will look at Pascoe.
Who it is for: Owners who want the daily RIB, the guest limousine and the beach lander from one builder, finished to match the yacht.