It is 5:15 on a Saturday and you are the second boat out of the inlet. The plan changed at the fuel dock, because the bite moved twenty miles further out than it was on Thursday, and you are going anyway. You can go, because there are 508 gallons under the deck. That is the Aquila 36 Molokai in one line: thirty-eight feet, twin outboards, a deck you can fish from every side of, and enough fuel to pick the grounds instead of settling for the near ones.
The 36 sits between the 28 and the 47 in Aquila's Molokai line. It takes the walkaround fishing deck the smaller boat established and puts a cabin and a head inside the console — the change that turns a long day into an overnight.
Who It's For
This is a boat for the owner-operator who fishes offshore with a small crew. You run it yourself, you want the deck space and the steadier platform at rest that two hulls give you, and you have already decided the wider slip is a fair trade.
It also suits the angler who has been running a monohull center console this length and keeps arriving at the grounds already tired. Twin hulls do not cancel a head sea, but they change what a full day of one feels like, and they change what it is like to stand and fight a fish once the boat is stopped.
It is not the right boat if you want a deep-V's feel through a hard turn. Catamarans carve differently and trim differently, and coming off a monohull there is a real learning curve. It is also not the right boat for a week aboard: 21 gallons of water and berths for two describe the boat honestly. Aquila certifies it for up to sixteen people, which is a day-boat number, not a sleeping one.
Design & Layout: A Deck Built Around the Fish
The deck is a single-level 360-degree walkaround with a forward casting platform and a walkthrough transom door in the center. You can follow a fish from the bow to the transom without stepping over a seat or squeezing past a console, which is the practical reason anglers buy catamarans this size.
The standard fishing hardware is built in rather than bolted on. Two 53-gallon pressurized livewells sit in the transom. Twelve rod holders run across the gunnels and the transom, six and six. A flip-down bait prep station has a fish measure built into it. In-deck livewells at 58 gallons apiece are on the options list if you want the extra live capacity. One thing to know before you go shopping on numbers: Aquila publishes livewell volumes for the 36 and no fishbox capacity at all, so any total you see quoted for insulated box volume did not come from the yard.
Under the console there is one cabin and one head, reached through a pantograph door on the starboard side. Berths are for two. It is not a stateroom, and it does not pretend to be one; it is somewhere to sleep, change and get out of the weather when a trip runs longer than a day.
The hardtop is carbon fiber and stands 9'0" above the water, which is the number to check against the bridge on your run out.
Performance: What Aquila Publishes, and What It Doesn't
Standard power is twin Mercury V10 350 HP outboards. Twin V10 425s with joystick control are the option, and the joystick is worth a serious look on a catamaran with this much windage at the dock. Light displacement is 15,031 lbs and loaded displacement 21,561 lbs, both quoted on the 425 HP package — so if you specify the 350s, get the weights written for your build rather than assuming the published pair applies.
The hull is double-stepped with high tunnel clearance. Aquila's stated aims for that combination are an air-cushioned ride and less hull noise at trolling speed. Carbon fiber goes into the hardtop and into the high-load structure of the hull and the aft bulkhead, keeping weight out of the top of the boat.
Aquila publishes no top speed and no cruise speed for the 36 Molokai — not in the model page spec table, not in the dated spec sheet, not in the page copy. Any knots figure you find in circulation comes from a magazine test of one hull on one engine package, which may not be the package you are buying. Treat it as indicative, not as a specification, and establish your own numbers on a sea trial with your own load aboard.
Certification is CE Category B for eight, C for twelve and D for sixteen. Category B is the offshore rating, and it is the one that matters if the canyons are the plan.
Ownership: The Honest Conversation
Two outboards on the transom is a simpler ownership picture than an engine room. Service happens where you can see it, the powerheads are mainstream, and there is no shaft, strut or running gear underneath to think about when you come off a sandbar.
The 11'9" beam is narrow for a catamaran and much closer to a monohull's slip requirement than the wider boats in Aquila's range. You get the twin-hull deck without the dockage arithmetic that comes with a 25-foot beam.
Plan the overnight around the tankage rather than the other way round. Twenty-one gallons of fresh water and 21 gallons of holding are day-and-a-night numbers. If you intend to stay out longer than that, the boat will tell you before the fishing does.
On the sea trial, run it at trolling speed and listen. Aquila makes a specific claim about hull noise at that speed, and it is the easiest claim on the whole boat to test for yourself in five minutes. While you are there, ask for the engine package, the displacement basis and the full options list written into the specification you sign.
Where to Start
The Aquila 36 Molokai is a fishing boat first, with just enough cabin to extend the day at both ends. If your problem is that the grounds you want to fish are further out than your current boat lets you commit to, this is the platform that solves it — 508 gallons, a deck built for the job, and a berth for when you decide to stay.
Explore full specifications at YachtSpecsDirect.com
Browse available Aquila inventory at mintedyachts.com/aquila