You want to fish a boat from every side of it. The Aquila 28 Molokai is built around that idea: a 9'9" beam on a 28'2" hull, a center console with a full 360-degree walkaround, and two 94-gallon insulated fish boxes molded into the deck. It is an open boat, and every choice in the layout assumes you are working.
Overall length is 30'9" with the outboards down. Light displacement is 6,166 lb with a pair of 150s on the transom. Draft is 1'1" with the motors up and 2'6" with them down — the pair of numbers that decides where you can idle in and where you can sit at anchor.
The real question at this length is whether a catamaran does something an offshore center console cannot. On usable deck area, and on how flat the boat sits while you work it, it does.
Who It's For
This is a boat for the owner who runs it himself and fishes it hard — tournament mornings, charter days, dive trips, and the family Saturday in between. The deck handles all of them without a refit, because there is nothing on it that has to be moved first.
It suits the angler who values working room over a headline number. The continuous walkaround means two people can fight fish on opposite sides of the console without getting in each other's way. Forward, the molded split bow seating holds ten-plus guests by Aquila's own count, so the boat does not become a single-purpose tool the day you buy it.
It is the wrong boat if you want shelter. There is no cabin and no enclosed head. The console opens on a hinged forward door to a standing space that takes an optional toilet with dockside pump-out, and that is the whole of the accommodation. If a dry helm matters more to you than the bow walkaround, the Cuddy version of this same hull is the one to look at.
Design and Layout: The Walkaround Is the Point
Beam is what a catamaran buys you at this length, and Aquila spends it on deck. The walkaround runs unbroken from the transom forward. The transom itself carries a walkthrough with a door set between the engines, so a fish comes aboard where you are already standing instead of over the gunwale.
The fishing hardware is molded in rather than bolted on. Two 94-gallon insulated fish boxes discharge overboard through macerator pumps. A 30-gallon livewell sits aft. Two FRP-lined deck lockers hold 103 gallons each, which covers a day's ice, a spread of rods and the gear that otherwise ends up loose on the sole.
Bridgedeck clearance is 1'0.5". That figure matters more than most buyers expect on a catamaran: it is the gap the tunnel has before the underside starts taking hits, and it is the one number worth comparing directly across cats of this length.
Power and Capacity
Standard propulsion is twin Mercury 150s, with twin Mercury 225s offered as the option. Aquila prints no model designation for either — the sheet gives the make and the horsepower and stops there.
It also publishes no top speed, no cruise speed and no range for this boat on any rig. The figures that circulate for this hull are tied to a 200 hp package Aquila does not list, so they describe a different boat. Before you settle on a rig, get observed figures in writing at your intended load, with the props you will actually turn.
What Aquila does certify is capacity, and that is what governs how you load the boat: CE Category B for 8 people offshore, Category C for 12 coastal, Category D for 14 inland. Fuel is 150 gallons across two aluminum tanks. Fresh water is 16 gallons, which is a wash-down and a rinse — the right amount for an open boat.
Ownership: Nothing Below Deck
The maintenance list here is short, and that is the argument. No cabins, no heads, no systems under the sole. You are looking after two outboards, a livewell pump, two macerators and a battery bank.
That simplicity changes how often the boat leaves the dock. A boat you can check over in twenty minutes gets taken out on a marginal morning; a boat with a systems list stays put. Across a season that is worth more than any single line on the spec sheet.
The 9'9" beam is the trade-off to plan for. It is wide for the length, so confirm slip width before you sign for a berth, and confirm your yard's lift and stands can take a catamaran of this beam.
Where to Start
The 28 Molokai is an honest open fishing platform: wide, simple, and built around a deck you can work from every side. It asks you to give up shelter and to plan for a wide berth. In return you get working room and a boat that stays flat while you use it.
If that trade reads right, walk the deck with your own gear in mind — where the rods live, where the ice goes, and where two people stand when a fish is on.
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