Cranchi A46 Luxury Tender, Walkaround Review and Owner's Numbers

From the A44 project to the Cranchi A46 Luxury Tender

Motor Boat and Yachting's first look in January 2021 introduced the boat as the Cranchi A44, a luxury tender riding the fashion for T-top walkarounds that Windy, Pardo, Fjord and Solaris had already joined. By launch it carried the name A46 Luxury Tender, and YachtBuyer still files the model under an A44 address while calling it the A46 on the page. The hull, drawn by Aldo Cranchi with the yard's Centro Studi Ricerche Cranchi, is 12 m long; swim platform and bow fittings bring the overall length to 14.25 m, which is where the 46 in the name comes from.

Christian Grande handled art direction, as he did on the smaller E26, and the result is deliberately tall and slab-sided. Those high topsides split opinion on looks but give safe, thigh-high bulwarks all the way round the deck and the volume for a real cabin below. Cranchi lists the boat in its Aria line alongside outboard and larger models, and YachtBuyer reports it as in production.

Sides that fold down and a platform that rises

The party trick is aft. The bulwarks either side of the stern hinge down on servo-electric mechanisms to become terraces over the water, and the hydraulic swim platform can rise level with them or drop into the sea. With wings down and platform lowered, YachtBuyer described a wraparound stern terrace a few inches above the water. The platform is also part of the launch system for a 2 m tender that stows under the aft sunpad, per Motor Boat and Yachting.

Forward of the sunpad the dinette has sliding backrests, so guests can face the table at anchor or face forward underway, with a teak table and a wet bar fitted for a grill, sink, ice maker and fridge. The helm sits ahead of that under the optional hardtop, whose slatted fin-style sunroof comes from Cranchi's flybridge flagships. Past the helm, a raised forward sunpad with an optional bench forms a second lounge in a style Cranchi compares to a Portuguese bridge.

Cranchi's own speed and fuel curve

Cranchi publishes a detailed data sheet for the twin Volvo Penta D6 IPS 650 installation, 480 hp per side. On a clean, lightly loaded boat the yard recorded 35 knots at 3,750 rpm burning about 192 liters per hour, roughly 50.7 US gallons per hour. The sweet spot is lower: 24.5 knots at 3,000 rpm for about 108 liters per hour (28.5 gph), which works out to 4.4 liters per nautical mile and a theoretical 340 miles from the 1,500 liter tank. Cranchi rates cruising at 25 to 26 knots and top speed at 34 to 35.

Slow speeds are less efficient than many buyers expect. At 9 knots and 2,000 rpm the boat is climbing onto the plane and burns about 59 liters per hour for only 229 miles of range, so either idle along at 6 to 8 knots or commit to the 21 to 26 knot band where the hull is happiest. YachtBuyer's testers summarized it as around 35 knots flat out with efficient cruising at 20 to 25.

Triple bolsters, a central wheel and a joystick by the door

The helm uses three thickly upholstered bolster seats in front of a tall graphite console, with the wheel on the centerline and space for two large multifunction displays. A raised wraparound windscreen shelters all three. The IPS joystick sits beside the throttles, positioned so the skipper can step onto the starboard side deck and walk the boat onto a stern-to or alongside berth. IPS pods also keep draft shallow at about 1.17 m including props.

With 13.5 tonnes dry and CE category B rating for 14 people, the A46 is a substantial boat for its hull length. Owners planning open-water runs should still treat it as a fast coastal yacht rather than an offshore cruiser; the 300 liter water tank and single cabin point to day trips and weekends.

A weekend cabin with a real shower

Below, the forward space works as a lower saloon by day: a bench that pulls out into a double, a small angled club chair, a pull-out TV and a fridge, with glass on three sides. Motor Boat and Yachting described a partition that drops in to separate the bow double from the rest of the lower deck. Amidships, a full-beam cabin has twin berths that convert to a double with a pull-out support; headroom is limited but you can sit up in bed. The key luxury is the head with a separate shower stall, which YachtBuyer said makes the boat feel far more usable for overnight stays.

Cranchi lists four berths, one cabin and one bathroom. Two couples will be comfortable for a night or two; a family with teenagers will find the bow double more of a living room than a bedroom.

What the options really cost

YachtBuyer's 2021 review gave rare detail on option prices. The full hydraulic deck package, with both folding wings and the terraced platform, was about 90,000 euros. The hardtop added about 48,000 euros, paint finishes 20,000 to 60,000 euros and a full teak deck about 22,000 euros, and air conditioning and a generator also had to be added. Matching the test boat meant finding about 250,000 euros on top of the base price.

That makes the spread between listings easy to understand. A 2026 stock boat in Italy asks about 1,115,000 euros, while used examples from 2022 to 2024 run from about 850,000 to 1.15 million euros depending on the options. For a US buyer, add shipping, duty and the cost of converting a European-spec boat if needed.

• Hydraulic deck package with folding wings and platform: about 90,000 euros
• Hardtop with slatted sunroof: about 48,000 euros
• Paint finishes: about 20,000 to 60,000 euros
• Full teak deck: about 22,000 euros

Chase boat, dayboat or weekender

Cranchi calls it a luxury tender, and the boat can run alongside a superyacht as a chase boat, but most owners use it as a standalone dayboat and weekender. YachtBuyer named the Wallytender 48 and Windy SR44 Blackhawk as the obvious rivals, noting that the Cranchi's taller topsides buy it a deeper, more usable four-berth interior. Its lower profile rivals look sleeker; the A46 lives better. Cranchi, which traces its workshop to Giovanni Cranchi on Lake Como in 1870 and has been run with the Monzino family since 1970, sells it through its international dealer network.