TBV Industry & Offshore (The Netherlands) developed an innovative Tender Launch System for the Moonen 114 Explorer, a mega-yacht under construction at Moonen Shipyards. The launch system was designed to fit in the available aft space ensuring safe and easy launching and recovering of the tender. There was no room for overhead cranes to get the tender in the water and strict requirements to minimize size and weight were imposed for the design and construction.

The swimming platform is an important part of the launching system. A special hinge arrangement provides two functions for the platform depending on the height at which the platform is deployed. For tender launching the platform is deployed at 400 mm above the water line and when in use as a swimming platform the height above water is approximately 700 mm. After launching the tender the handling system is stowed under the floor so the space can be utilized for other purposes. In order to minimize the overall weight a watertight composite door was selected for this installation. The yacht watertight composite doors, which are approximately 55% lighter then metal equivalents, were earlier developed by TBV. Control of the system is provided using advanced electronics with user-friendly interfaces in form of a touch-screen and wireless remote unit.