“A truly capable piece of kit”
Credits: Dan Jones
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
So this was going to be a video about fuel flow and speed and performance because I do think we’re on quite an amazing hull but as you can see, the conditions right now are not going to allow for that. It’s absolutely insane!
I’m here with Elaine, and I am on the Aquila 47 Molokai and this thing is an absolute Beast! The weather today is serving up quite something special for us actually, so this will be a good test. All we’re going to do is run down swell. We have 3m breaking sharp waves, it is dodgy conditions, and I would advise most of you unless you’ve been out in sea states like this to not do this. Don’t come out on a day like today. I’m going to tell you that this boat is more than capable of doing it, but until you’ve got your wits about your experience level, and your crew, just take it easy. So don’t go running out here on a day like today on your day one when you just bought the boat. But what we will prove to you in this video is that this Molokai 47 is absolutely capable of doing it.
My name’s Dan Jones, you’re watching Dan’s boat life. Good day and welcome again to America. I’m really enjoying this place, and this Molokai 47 is a brand new boat for the range. I’ve already done their Molokai 28 back in Australia, and we also had similar big swell, rough conditions on that day. So I do have a feeling for what this whole design was pitched for is for guys who want to go fishing, guys who want to do surfing trips, maybe support boats to big superyachts and tenders, and people who want something that’s just an all-round ultimate capable boat.
But what is special about this 47 is the accommodation and the layout. She really caters to people who want to go further afield. If you want to ride across the Bimini or if you’re in Australia and you want to do some serious trips—you can stay on it, we’re going to cover that in the walkthrough.
“This Molokai 47 is a brand new boat for the range.”
The thing’s got 800 nautical miles range, so let’s call it 750 with a reserve. It’s just got an incredible amount of capability. And hopefully, as I’m demonstrating to you right now in these short sharp wave period swells, which are the most uncomfortable, the boat is handling really well. Can you hear any slamming? You know we’ve been dropping off waves, I’ve been clenching my sphincter, going, “Oh,” and then we land and I’m like, “Oh, that wasn’t so bad.” So I’m thinking some of you guys from Australia who want to go to Rottnest Islands, obviously anyone who wants to cruise the East Coast, and quite clearly all the Americans, you’re going to love this thing.
So let’s just wind the speed up a little bit. I’m not going to get much more than 30 mph today, guys. It’s some of these troughs. I’m legit dropping into the bottom of the troughs and I cannot see Miami. Okay, so that’s the kind of conditions we’re in. Nothing we haven’t done before and nothing you can’t do on a boat like this.
I’m not going to go upwind. I have done it. I’ll cut to some shots now, but the reason why I’m not is because my drone can’t keep up. It’s 30 knots steady! So we’re doing 3,000 to 3,500 revs. I’ve got the Quad Ring 450 Mercuries on this one but a lot of people have been going for the V10 400s.
So what I would like to try and convey to you in this drive through the drone footage through my experience—look at my body stance right now. I’ve got my legs spread. I’ve got my driving hand, my steering hand on the steering knob, which I like, and my throttle hand is not leaving these throttles. Can you see how relaxed I am? You normally would not be so relaxed in a boat like in these conditions is what I’m trying to say, but the bridge deck clearance, the cutting angle of these bows, and the design of this hull is giving me so much confidence to be out here. This is the sort of day when you cancel boat tests. This is the sort of day when you cancel test drives. But on the Molokai 47, you can keep going. If you’ve got the skill set, if you’ve got the crew, if your stomach can handle it, this boat can too!
So just riding up and over a few more waves and don’t go hammering at full speed in conditions like this. You just wouldn’t please yourself. Once again, the boat will do it, but your crew won’t.
So couple observations, there are some of the American boats I’ve driven on my trip here, if I was out here in conditions like this, I would not be able to see over the bow. But on this Molokai, from a standing position, I can raise my height if I need to with a flip-down step, which I noticed earlier on. I can get extra height. But me being 5’7″, can see perfectly well, and the bows are not elevating to a point where it puts me in a dangerous position. So I can see all these swells. I’ve got really good visibility all around. Obviously, 30 knots of wind, we’ve got spray coming over the port side ’cause the wind’s coming from the port half-quarter.
“She really caters to people who want to go further afield.”
If you were in somewhere like, Western Australia, and where you have similar conditions to this, just put some clears, that’s all I would do because this whole area is air-conditioned. I saw a row of air conditioning behind me. We’ll cover that in the walkthrough.
So it really is an incredible opportunity to be able to come out in conditions like this, and I am going to call it an opportunity because most people will never have experienced this. If you come out here in many monohulls, the bow is going to be jumping up and down all over the place. You won’t have visibility and your crew is going to be getting sick.
So look at how level and flat and smooth we are, and then just look at my stance here where I am at the helm. I’m pretty relaxed. So that equates to when the conditions have changed, and it happens, we all have really good modern weather forecasting technology today, but sometimes things don’t go as planned, this is a boat that will get you home. That’s all I have to say.
So I’m going to head to shore now. I’ll try and get some more footage. I’ve been having to crash land my drone today. It wasn’t even possible to do a normal catch, so I’m being a little bit conservative with the old flying. And we will go somewhere protected, and then we will do some slow-speed manoeuvring, so you guys can understand what she’s like at the dock as well. Because from what I’ve seen today, this is a single or a solo operator boat if you want it to be. And so whether you’re entertaining, whether you’re fishing, whether you’re going on a surf trip, whether you’re towing it behind the Mother Ship, which you can do, that’s an option for this. You can run this thing as a solo operator, and wait until you see the accommodation.
“This is the sort of day when you cancel test drives, but on the Molokai 47, you can keep going.”
Okay, that was so much easier than it should have been. Okay, guys, so that was an interesting, enjoyable, and very capable crossing. Something that you just wouldn’t do on most boats. Here we are now in the flat water, just trying to find another place where we can actually fly the drone without crashing it. And I’m cruising at 43 to 47 mph. Right now, I’m on 3,700 revs. I’ll just bump that up to 3,900. This is what I love about a hull design like this. I’m already at 4000, so let’s just go back down. When, you’re under 4,000 revs and you’re cruising at over 40 mph, it’s really good!
Look at this, a little bit of trim on the engine, 38, 39, 44, 45 mph. So the fuel flow at that speed, I’ve got that here for 4 engines, 67 gallons an hour total at cruise. That’s pretty cool. And then let’s just wind it back a little bit and just sit at 3,400 revs, might need to play with the trim a little bit, that feels okay right there at 33. It gives me 38 mph. That’s fast! It feels slow on this thing, but I’ve got a fuel return or fuel flow of 52 gallons total for that speed return. That is awesome! Alright, we’re going to go find somewhere that it’s possible to fly the drone again, and we’ll see what we could put together for you.
SUMMARY
Well, that was amazing, guys. I’m struggling to hide my excitement for this boat. It is truly a capable piece of kit, and if that video doesn’t show you what this thing is capable of doing, I don’t know what will. So if you’re someone who is looking for an offshore boat, a fast boat, a high cruising speed boat for fishing, for surfing, for multiple other activities, and for some epic day boating, this Molokai 47 is going to do that.
It also got accommodation, so you and your partner, if you want to go somewhere and stay somewhere nice, you can do that too. So I just see this thing opening up to a whole variation of different possibilities for you guys.
So do you go for the Quad 450s, do you go for the Quad 400s, or do you take the standard twin 600s? I think it depends on your lifestyle, whether you’re a fisherman or not, because some of you might just want to go for fuel flow and efficiency, and maybe you’ll see more benefit with the 600s in that case, not having to service so many motors. So have a think about that, talk to your dealer about your use case because this boat has many use cases from what we just saw today.
“She’s got the Quad Ring 450 Mercuries, but you can have the option to go for the Quad 450s, Quad 400s, or the standard twin 600s.”
So if you want to discover the ins and outs of this boat in a little bit more detail, that is a separate video to this one. We’re going to link to that in the description below. My name’s Dan Jones, you’ve been watching Dan’s Boat Life. That’s probably the most fun I’ve had here in America so far. I love going out on rough days, so I hope you enjoyed that. Don’t forget to support the Patreon, give us a like, subscribe if you haven’t already. I’ll see you on the next one, guys. Thanks!
