Fdog Review: the AquaCat Liveaboard

[El Tiburon]

Awesome review! I'm doing the AC April 7-14 and I now know exactly what to expect, and there will be no surprises. One question, do you need to bring clips to hang stuff to dry?

 

[fdog]

We usually bring a dozen clothespins as a matter of course whenever we go on a liveaboard. They are just too darn handy for very little luggage weight.

On this trip, each dive station had maybe 3 or 4 clothespins already on the drying line; since we also wear wetsuit socks, we used a couple of the clothespins we brought as well.


All the best, James

 

[El Tiburon]

Thank you.

 

[NWDiverBob]

Hi James, what a great trip report! My wife and I would love to go on a live aboard someday. I think the AC would be great for me, because I'm not much of a sailor! How is the the boat for stability? Thanks, Bob

 

[fdog]

I found our time on board the AquaCat to be exceptionally stable, more so than the usual monohull liveaboard. I'd attribute this to the wide beam of the Aquacat with two widely-spaced centers of flotation. Consequently the vessel seemed to respond to beamward swell only half (or less!) as much as a monohull.

In addition, the Captain made effort to keep the vessel in the lee of the Exumas whenever possible. The combination of inherent stability, and care by the crew, made for a ride that impressed me - and I (literally) grew up on a boat, so I'm a tough audience.

...except...

It is possible for all catamarans to go from laying quiescent, to having an extremely abrupt rapid rolling motion, very quickly. This rolling motion will die just as rapidly, leaving you to wonder if you'd imagined it. It's caused by a swell that is exactly from the beam, and is exactly the right wavelength and frequency. This is extremely rare - and can happen to any catamaran, from a Hobie Cat to an ocean ferry. I recall this happening on board both the Palau Aggressor and the Kona Aggressor, and on the Catalina Express. I believe RoatanMan alluded to this back in page 2.

As the Aquacat swung on mooring one night, we did experience this for a couple minutes. The crew quickly changed the mooring, and the motion stopped. I recall looking out and saw a swell set that would have made a monohull move almost as much. It served as a reminder to me that even though the ride had been extremely stable for days on end, we were indeed on board a vessel. I promptly made sure all my gear was secured from that point on.

So, in summary, we had a week on the boat where it moved so little that I would have thought we were tied to a pier, and about 2 minutes of rolling. If we'd been aboard a monohull liveaboard, we would have had a constant rolling motion. The AquaCat was far more stable than the usual liveaboard.


All the best, James

 

[buddhasummer]

Wish I could afford that live-a-board, I always end up on budget boats, a bit hit and miss, yours looks very nice.

James, I note your wife is wearing AL Hotshots with springs, what springs are they? Atomic? cheers

 

[jdf]

Yes, they are the Aqualung hotshot fins with Atomic Spring Straps. I love these fins, but I like wearing boots and the hotshots are meant for barefoot. The stock fin strap doesn't stretch enough for boots and I also wear these with my drysuit . The only problem is the boot and fin tend to stick together so you have to tug alittle harder to get them off. The Atomic spring straps have a nice hard plastic loop that is easy to use with drygloves and they are designed so you can't overstretch the spring.
Janet

 

[buddhasummer]

Yes, they are the Aqualung hotshot fins with Atomic Spring Straps. I love these fins, but I like wearing boots and the hotshots are meant for barefoot. The stock fin strap doesn't stretch enough for boots and I also wear these with my drysuit . The only problem is the boot and fin tend to stick together so you have to tug alittle harder to get them off. The Atomic spring straps have a nice hard plastic loop that is easy to use with drygloves and they are designed so you can't overstretch the spring.
Janet

Thank for your reply Janet, Ive been interested in these fins for a while, I travel dive a lot, particularly after reading James's review but was not overly sure on the straps. So I assume the post on the fins is the more standard larger size? as opposed to the Mares small posts? Cheers.

 

[jdf]

Looking at the Mares fins and Hot Shot fins that I have here, they seem to be exactly the same post. But I think some Mares posts have a notch in them? The Universal Atomic Spring Straps go on the Hot Shots very easily.
Janet

 

[buddhasummer]

Looking at the Mares fins and Hot Shot fins that I have here, they seem to be exactly the same post. But I think some Mares posts have a notch in them? The Universal Atomic Spring Straps go on the Hot Shots very easily.
Janet

Thank you, much appreciated. Atomic springs it is.