Aquila 36: Catamaran Review

Launched at the 2017 Miami Boat Show, and displayed at the 50th Sydney International Boat Show, the Aquila 36 has been designed as a luxury family weekender, offshore fishing and dive boat, cocktail cruiser or even a passenger and charter vessel. But with a comfortable seating capacity for 20 guests in the bow-to-stern seating arrangements, this is a superlative party craft and beach goer. Even the dolphins came out to play and nod in agreement during our test on Sydney Harbour.

OVERVIEW
- An outboard-powered party cat and summer beach boat
New products designed by consortiums often fail from the too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen syndrome. But this revolutionary summer powercat is a winner because the design team has serious credentials.

The brains of U.S. boating retailing giant MarineMax, who established Aquila and a new charter business to further its reach, this 36ft powercat has some impressive features including on-trend outboard power for getting in close to your favourite beach and bolthole.

The slippery cat hull was penned by J&J Design, the well-known brothers Japec and Jernej Jakopin, who together boast around 300 designs for 55 production boatbuilders in more than 20 countries.

Along with the Aquila 44 and 48ft flybridge cruising cats with inboard engines, this outboard-powered 36 is built by Sino Eagle Yachts in China. The 36 meets CE Category B for eight offshore, Category C for 18 on coastal waters, and Category D for 26 on inland and sheltered waterways. Yep, a party boat.

The slippery low-drag hull certainly scooted along rather nicely on a sunny Sydney Harbour, with twin 300hp supercharged Mercury Verado FourStroke outboards allowing us to explore some picture-perfect anchorages where other boats dare venture. At rest, the cat hull is obviously more stable than a mono, so it rocks a lot less from the passing wake.

The hull was tank tested and constructed using resin infusion and balsa-core composite to keep weight in check. The quality of the Aquila 36, from the mouldings to the joinery and the electrics and engineering, is impressive.

But the appeal of this power catamaran are all the seats and convertible sunpads, the room to move and groove on deck, where the useable space is akin to a 55-footer. There’s an amenities centre, shade under the hardtop, and modular seating with optional layouts. There’s also terrific access to the water and the outboards let you get in close.

PRICE AND EQUIPMENT
- Available in syndication for $77,500 for a 1/10th share
Rated for 250-350hp, our Aquila 36 hit 33 knots with the twin supercharged 300hp Mercury Verado outboards. They felt right. Beyond these engine upgrades are a lot of options to create a powercat to suit your needs.

You can add and remove seating, choose a fully-enclosed helm or the hardtop with clears and abundant streaming fresh air as per the test boat, add a generator and air-con, fishing and barbecue centres, more covers, boosted 485lt instead of standard 200lt water supply, and create more of a cruising boat.

The major options on the test boat, which was set-up as a Sydney Harbour day cruiser, included a 3kVa inverter with upgraded 600A of battery power aboard, LED lighting package, and SeaDeck foam flooring.

You can get aboard a base Aquila 36 with twin 250hp outboards for about $520k. As tested, the tricked-up Aquila 36 had a ticket of about $620k.

The test boat was joining a Smart Boating syndication fleet operating out of Clontarf on Middle Harbour. The 1/10th shares were selling for $77,500 for a three-year term. This makes even more dollars and sense for a party boat like this and could be all you need.

LAYOUT AND ACCOMMODATION
- Party on-board and weekend away
The spacious bow entertaining area, accessible via the walkthrough windshield, can be configured three different ways. There’s surrounding seating for eight that converts to wide lounges and aft facing seats, which then folds flat to make two double sunpads.

The bowrider seating includes flip-down armrests, LED-lit cup holders, speakers and mounting points for an optional collapsible bow awning.

The aft seating running nearly all the way across the stern and also transforms into a double sunbed. So, all told, there are comfortable sunbeds for three couples.

Between these seating areas, in the central cockpit, under the expansive hard top (with optional electric sunroof), is a day galley with L-shaped dining area that includes a collapsible pedestal table.

The galley had a solid stone food-prep top, fridge and sink. There’s hot-water via the charged 60lt accumulator tank when hooked to shorepower— but after that it’s cold — with plenty of room to mount a barbecue.

We’d definitely add a barbecue to the transom with stainless steel LPG gas bottle or tow. This just has to be a barbecue party boat in our mind. To that end, and that of a working week on a Friday afternoon boat test, the hinged passenger-side sub-seat icebox was full of cold beverages.

Meantime, water access rates highly on the Aquila 36. Between the outboards at the transom is an aft-facing bench seat overlooking a decent swim deck topped with SeaDek foam flooring underfoot. There’s more space here due to the cat design and also room for fishing with your rod tips clear of the engines.

A deep-reach central swim ladder — or an optional hydraulic swim platform — make swimming and diving an integral part of this boat’s summer agenda. The Aquila also has port and starboard boarding gates for easy access via the marina.

Two separate companionways each lead down in the hulls to a separate cabin with a double bed and en suite, including a head and handheld shower. With a head height of 1.98m and expansive hull side windows and overhead hatches, you can a feeling of space, light and comfort. Air conditioning is an option.

But as it we found them, with big forward escape hatches, the cabins were a great surprise. There Aquila 36 can definitely cater for family needs for weekends away, with the outboards letting your sneak into anchorages and skinny beaches away from the madding crowds or right in the middle of them should you choose.

HULL AND ENGINEERING
- Built to CE standards with composite construction
Aquila is a dedicated powercat builder and designer experiencing strong growth, Brent Vaughan from importers Mulithull Central tells us as we prepare to cast the lines.

Built by Sino Eagle Yachts in China to CE standards and the discerning American market, the Aquila 36 has been thoroughly tank tested. It’s also been market tested, with the idea stemming from U.S. boating retailers MarineMax, so there was plenty of seating, huge storage areas above and below decks, and ease of use throughout.

The vinylester resin-infused hull and deck reduce weight and, ultimately, fuel bills, while high bridge clearance contributes to a smooth ride, the boatbuilder says. The boat also feels stuff, with resin-infused structural bulkheads adding to the strength for inshore and offshore boating.

The switch panel looks easy to understand, with 12V toggles and shorepower service, remote battery master switches, engine parallel, the 3kW inverter, volt and amp meter, plus digital tank monitor for the 1350lt of fuel in alloy tanks, 200lt of water, and 160lt holding tank. There are four automatic bilge pumps in the boat and it all looked like a good production boat under the floor and in the engineering department to us.

The sound system is a three-zone number with six speakers, while the helm station features an adjustable seat for two with individual flip-up bolsters. The electronic engine shifts, with features like single lever, sync and +/- throttle adjustment, and Mercury Verado power assist steering, along with Mercury's automatic Active Trim Control, make driving a snap.

In fact, a big part of this boat's appeal is its ease of use, ease of maintenance and the fact you can just hose it out after that big barbecue summer party. Push button anchoring and outboard trim-and-tilt make it all very familiar.

Underway, we found a willing cruising boat on Sydney Harbour. We closed the wind door and windscreen and cruised a fair few miles.

ON THE WATER
- Smooth cruising with predictable cat handling
The helm position offers excellent all-round visibility and a commanding view fore and aft. There was a 15in Raymarine hybrid-touch MFD screen and a SmartCraft navigation package for the Mercury outboards.

Easy handling and manoeuvrability come from the wide-set twin engines and the autopilot for hands-free coastal cruising with the outboards. And with just 60cm of draft, the Aquila 36 can go places a monohull can’t.

Underway, the cat just slips up to planning speed. Mercury's automatic Active Trim Control kept the boat running flat, perhaps a tad too much when quartering the breeze, when a bit of spray licked up. But override that system and apply the throttle and you speed away from it.

The optimum cruise revs of 4000rpm return 18.5 knots for 80lt per hour and a safe cruising range of about 280nm. Fast cruise at 5000rpm returned 24 knots and a range of 230nm. Top speed was 33.6 knots, while low-speed plane was clocked at 300rpm and 11 knots. If you can sit on 350-rpm and 15 knots you can pull a range of almost 300nm, according to our data capture.

Off the wheel, this was an easy drive. But I did feel the need to override the Active Trim Control to get maximum lift and limit spray. As with most powercats, the Aquila 36 leans outboard in the turns, but if you back off the inside engine and throttle the turning circle is greatly reduced.

All told, I’m seeing it as more of a cruising platform for reaching the anchorage and partying than a sportsboat that you drive for that pleasure alone. Once the anchor bites or the mooring is claimed, its game on. The crew enjoyed a cold beer at Nielson Bay and Milk Beach before cruising back under the Harbour Bridge for home.

VERDICT
- A summer savvy entertainer with outboard power
With so much up-top waterfront living room, as a summer party platform, the Aquila 36 is going to be hard to beat. Then when you want a family weekender, there are two double cabins, one per hull, each with a luxury en suite and shower down below. Oh, and full headroom.

On top of this, Aquila offers a full enclosed cabin version of its 36, as well as layouts optimised for fishing with rod holders, outriggers and more. Given Australia love of powercats stretching well back, and our penchant for wetting a line and partying hard, this boat makes a lot of good boating sense.

A second Aquila 36 has now been ordered as more of Queensland cruising boat, with a fully enclosed helm, aft shade and camper covers, a fishing package including bait tank, rod holders and bait-prep/cleaning board, plus barbecue module with fridge.

The second Queensland cruising Aquila 36 will arrive in time for the 2017 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show. Meantime, this boat beckons to be taken to a beach and given the full party treatment. And with shares available, it’s bound to be popular this summer.

REVS     KNOTS        LT/HR
1000          5.0                  9.0
1500          6.0                13.0
2000          7.7                20.0
2500          8.4                28.7
3000        11.0                48.0
3500        15.0                61.4
4000        18.5                80.0
4500        21.8                91.0
5000        24.0              126.0
5500        28-29.0        149.0
6000        33.6             224.0
THREE BLADE 12x 21in PITCH STAINLESS-STEEL THREE PROPS, 90 PER CENT OF AVAILABLE FUEL

HIGHS
>> Exceptional deck space for entertaining a crowd
>> Twin outboards for accessing beaches and boltholes
>> Easy clean, low-maintenance boating solution
>> Twin double cabins each with en suites
>> And impressive solution for summer boating

LOWS
>> High-volume hulls kick up a bit of spray quartering the wind
>> Needs a barbecue to sate the intended crowd
>> Battery position under the deck seat stole valuable storage space
>> No extractor fans in heads
>> Punters might struggle docking — add the joystick!

Specifications: Aquila 36
Price as Tested: $620k with upgraded 300hp Mercury Verado FourStroke outboard engines, optional 3kVa inverter with upgraded 600A of battery power, LED lighting package, SeaDeck foam flooring, and more.
Priced From: $520k for base Aquila 36 with twin 250hp outboards. 1/10th shares were selling for $77,500 for a three-year term via Smart Boating at Clontarf, Middle Harbour, Sydney.

LOA: 10.96m
Hull Length: 9.94m
Beam: 4.45m
Length Waterline: 9.30m
Height Above Waterline: 3.05m
Draft: 0.60m (outboards up)
Displacement: 6700kg (dry); 8800kg (loaded); 9200kg (optional fully enclosed variant)
Engines and Performance: 2 x 250hp Mercury Verado for 27 knots, 2 x 300hp for 33 knots, 2 x 350hp for 37 knots
Fuel: 2 x 675lt
Water: 200lt (opt 485lt)
Holding Tanks: 2 x 60lt
Certification: Cat B Offshore 8 people, Cat C Coastal Waters 18 people, Cat D Inland and Sheltered 26 people!
Cabins: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Engines on Test: Twin 300hp Mercury Verado

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