“An incredibly popular and versatile fast catamaran”
Credits: Nick Burnham
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
This is Aquila Sport 36. The interesting thing about this is it’s the most popular model in their range, been out for about five years, and they’ve sold over 200 of these. It’s been incredibly popular.
It’s outboard engine powered, as you can probably tell. It’s got our favourite Mercury Moo outboard engines, and yes, of course, they’re 300 horsepower. These are the base engines. In fact, you can upgrade to a 400 horsepower engine. If you go for the 400s, you end up with a 40 knot plus boat. It’s properly quick. The cruising is sort of 30-ish and the range on these, I don’t have the exact figures, but I’m going to guess 200 to 250 miles, that sort of area. But this is an absolutely fantastic sort of sports boat, family boat, great platform on the water. So let’s go on board, and I will give you the full tour.
“It’s a Mercury Moo outboard engine powered with 300 horsepower, cruising around 30-ish knots.”
We’ll step on here [swim platform]. I’m just going to show you underneath first of all because that’s where the boarding ladder is. It’s actually a fairly decent swim platform. The one thing you often lose with outboard engines is the swim platform because it can be fairly close together. But on this, because it’s quite a beamy boat, you’ve still got this pretty decent area here as well. And I like this seat that sits facing backwards, when people are splashing around the water having fun, that’s a great place to sit and watch it all going on.
Now there’s quite a bit of customisation on these. This particular owner has gone for a baitwell over on this side [port stern]. Normally, you have the seating extended out over here and another option you can have is to have a little bar area over on this side [starboard stern] with a grill and that kind of stuff in place of that seat. So, you know, not just similar to this sort of unit really.
Other things to show you out here [starboard side], there’s a side access door, so if you want to step on and off, it’s easy. And in here [locker], is an access down to the bilge. This one’s got a generator on it, so that’s what that fella there is. And then you’ve got access to fuel tanks, batteries, black water tank, all that kind of stuff is in across there, So all nice and gettable.
INTERIOR
There’s a few other options on here. They do a cruiser version, which, instead of being open with canvas and clear sections, it has a solid panel across the back that encloses this area.
This is a sort of slight hybrid version in a way because normally, if you’re opting for the sport version, which this is, your windscreen would have a half height and be open between the screen and the hardtop [like the neighbouring boat that Nick is pointing out].
But what this owner has chosen to do is go for the full-height windows forward. So basically, this area here [saloon] is similar to the cruiser version. He has upgraded the flooring and that kind of stuff because this is more of an internal area. But he still got the open back, so it gives a bit more protection at the front but still keeps this very much as an outdoor space.
This [saloon table] is a change as well. Normally, you get a height-adjustable table so you can turn that into some bathing area. He’s opted to go for this, which gives a bit more storage. Again, that’s something you normally find on the cruiser version with the glass panels across the back. That [half of the table] drops down. You can see there’s a leg on there, so you don’t have to have that raised up if you don’t want to.
“You can upgrade to a 400 horsepower engine, and you end up with a boat that reaches 40 knots or more.”
Over here [starboard side], then they’ve opted to have a barbecue, but if you have a barbecue outside, you probably have a ceramic hob there instead. The sink is here [next to the barbecue] as well. And then you’ve got the fridge [under the barbecue], of course, and a bit more storage in places like this [under the sink].
HELM STATION
Let’s head on forward. This is a forward-facing seat, as you can see, but you can just flip that across the other way. So if you want to sit right around here [saloon], you can do, make that into a nice dining area.
And then the helm is over on this side [starboard]. You’ve got the lift bolster as you can see. It’s got the Raymarine multi-function display. You can opt to have a second one over on that side [next to the screen]. And you’ve got engine controls, joystick control for the engines, VHF radio, all that kind of stuff is right there.
This one’s got the manual hatches overhead. You can opt to have power hatches, and they are then larger than that, so again, it’s all very customisable. It’s all owner spec.
FOREDECK
We’ll head right forward to this area [forward windshield] first of all. This will close off. You can see there’s a door here [port windshield] that hinges over. That one [middle overhead windshield] then drops down to meet it, and then there’s another door at the bottom that comes and then fills this bit. So all of this can be completely enclosed, and it’s air-conditioned.
If we head up here [bow], again, you can configure these however you like. So this has seating facing forward [each side], but you’ve also got a seating area here [across the starboard bow seating], really nice to sit and chat. But what you can do with this is you can drop this [backrest] down flat, which you would do if you’re cruising the boat, so you’ve got a better view out. Also, you can infill this with the cushion underneath there [starboard bow seating], and you can see we’ve deployed it on this side [port bow side], so you can see how that looks. So all of that becomes one big sunbathing area. You can do the same on both sides, or you can convert it into a seating area like this.
Another thing you’ve got under the floor here is a bow ladder. You can see it deployed on the boat next door, and the idea of that is you can run the nose up to a beach and then just step straight down onto the beach.
But yeah, you can see now a bit clearer how that windscreen [neighbouring boat] is a half-height screen, and that’s what you’d normally get on this if it wasn’t spec the way that this one is. Also, there’s a Bimini top that comes out over the front on that one [neighbouring boat]. And again, you can have that on this if you want to.
LOWER DECK
So, that is all the deck space, and there is a load of it, as you can see. But there are cabins as well, two of them, in fact. If we go down this one [port stairs] first, what you’ve got down here is a double bed in this hull. You’ve got blinds that drop down over the windows, a hatch overhead as well, hull window is here [across the stairs], bit of storage about the place in places like this [cabinetry].
This one’s got its own ensuite that’s tucked away in here, and a shower where you can see how that comes out and up and clipped there [overhead]. So that’s just like a faucet head normally, and the toilet is back there, so it’s like a wet room basically. There’s a bit more storage tucked away on the side of the toilet seat as well. And down underneath here [cabinetry], you can see the Victron unit for the battery handling, and then there’s a hanging locker back there [cabinetry at the back of the toilet seat] as well and a bit more storage. So plenty of places to tuck stuff away. But bear in mind, this is predominantly a sort of like a day boat with occasional weekend-ing. That’s quite a nice area!
“It has two cabins with separate ensuites and plenty of storage.”
And across the other side, we’ll find exactly the same kind of thing. So, double bed up there in the forepeak again with the hull windows and so on. And then if we spin on around, it has got some of the circuit breakers and that kind of thing, so the 12-volt system and the AC system is controlled from there as well.
And if you come back here, exactly the same deal, you’ve got the wet heads, the shower, and in fact, this [sink] is where the shower sort of retracts, and it comes out as we saw on the other side.
And that is pretty much it, but it’s an absolutely fantastic day boat with some really good weekending possibilities because for two couples, they both have their own completely separate cabins, and I think that is rather nice. These would also make great dens or kits, wouldn’t they? Just tuck yourself away down here. Brilliant!
Fantastic! Okay let’s come back out of here and there’s some speaker systems about the place [main deck] as well.
SUMMARY
And we’ll head back up here [bow], I think. And I will say a massive thanks to Aquila for organising that tour. Huge thanks as ever to you guys for watching it. Let me know what you think in the comments. Don’t forget to like and subscribe, and we’ll catch you on one of these real soon. Take care, bye-bye!
