Aquila 32 Sport Review, Price and Performance Numbers

Aquila 32 Sport, the entry ticket to an Aquila power cat

The Aquila 32 Sport is the boat that brought Aquila's power catamaran formula down to dayboat size. When Power and Motoryacht borrowed one from MarineMax in St. Petersburg in 2019, it was the newest and smallest model in the line, and BoatTEST later described it as Aquila's more affordable entree into the family. It sits in the Sport series today below the 35 Sport and 36 Sport, alongside the Molokai fishing cats and the larger Yacht and Coupe models.

In numbers, the 32 Sport measures 32 feet 4 inches overall with a 12-foot 8-inch beam, draws just 1 foot 10 inches with the outboards tilted up, carries 280 gallons of fuel on the current spec sheet and is rated for up to 22 people in sheltered water. Twin Mercury Verados of 225 hp come standard, with 300 hp V8s and Joystick Piloting as the upgrade.

The hull is drawn by J&J Design, the firm behind all of Aquila's models, and built at Aquila's factory in Hangzhou, China. Boats 36 feet and under are shrink-wrapped and trucked to Shanghai for shipping, and MarineMax handles all US sales and service.

Aquila 32 or Aquila 32 Sport, one boat with two names

Search for the Aquila 32 and you will find both names, and BoatTEST even files the boat under two pages, the Aquila 32 from 2019 and the 32 Sport from 2021. They are the same model; Aquila's own spec sheet and the Sport series branding settled on 32 Sport. What changed over the run were details, and they matter on the used market.

Early boats were offered with three Mercury packages, twin 225 hp FourStrokes, twin 250 hp Verados or twin 300 hp Verados. Today's spec lists V6 Verado 225s as standard and V8 300s with joystick as the option. Power and Motoryacht's 2019 test boat had a hydraulically actuated swim platform and a battery-powered 8,000 BTU Cruise N Comfort air conditioner running off four Mastervolt lithium batteries, so it could cool the cabin overnight with no generator. BoatTEST's later boat had a fixed platform with an exceptionally rugged boarding ladder and a 5 kW diesel generator. PMY's spec box listed 252 gallons of fuel and 12,566 pounds dry; Aquila's current sheet says 280 gallons and 10,540 pounds light.

How a 12-foot 8-inch beam becomes a party deck

A V-hull dayboat of this length simply cannot match the space a catamaran gets from its beam, and the 32 Sport makes the most of it. The bow walkway is offset to starboard, creating a lounge to port about 4 feet wide and a narrower one to starboard, with flip-down armrests and a filler cushion that turns the whole bow into a sunpad sitting well below deck level. Deep lockers flank the windlass.

Through the opening windshield, a passage leads aft past an outdoor galley with a sink under a removable cover, a refrigerator and an electric grill that runs off the inverter or generator. The cockpit under the standard fiberglass hardtop has seating for about 12 and an expandable table, with 6 feet 8 inches of headroom, skylights and LED lighting. A SureShade awning extends shade aft.

At the stern, three stainless-framed gates close off the walkways around two aft lounges. The port lounge, 48 inches wide, converts to a chaise or lies flat. Lift the seats and you find two large equipment rooms with access to pumps, fuel filters, the generator and batteries, a layout service technicians appreciate.

One cabin and one head, for a night aboard

Below the port console is a cabin with 6 feet 2 inches of headroom and a berth about 79 inches long and 52 inches wide on average, with an opening hullside port and an overhead hatch. PMY found it comfortable but narrower than a true double. Battery switches, the digital switching panel and the air conditioning controls are reachable from the entry.

To starboard, a sliding door leads down to a wet head with a toilet, a sink with a pull-out shower faucet, Corian counters and about 5 feet 10 inches of headroom. Aquila says the boat sleeps four, counting two people on deck seating. Realistically, this is a dayboat that lets a couple stay overnight in air-conditioned comfort, which few 32-foot boats can claim.

Test numbers on 250s and 300s

Two magazine tests give a good picture. PMY's 2019 boat, heavily loaded with full fuel and water, averaged 31.7 knots at wide open throttle and could only reach 5,500 rpm. Its most efficient planing speed returned 0.78 miles per gallon, and in 3 to 4 foot side seas off Egmont Key the boat tracked solidly, leaned slightly outboard in tight turns as power cats do, and stayed comfortable at cruise speed.

BoatTEST's 2021 test with twin 300 hp Verados and lighter load reached 39 knots (44.8 mph) at 5,800 rpm on 46.7 gph. It planed in 6.5 seconds and reached 30 mph in 11.4 seconds. The economical cruise came at 3,000 rpm, 14.1 knots on 12.9 gph, while 4,500 rpm delivered 27 knots on 27 gph for about 253 nautical miles of range. The hull's sharp entries cut through chop without drama, and the dry deck owed much to spray rails inside the tunnel and a center wave deflector.

• Top speed: 39 knots with twin 300s (BoatTEST), 31.7 knots heavily loaded (PMY)
• Fast cruise: 27 knots at 27 gph, about 1 nautical mile per gallon
• Economy: 14.1 knots at 12.9 gph
• Draft with engines up: 1 foot 10 inches

Aquila 32 Sport price and running costs

MarineMax lists a 2026 Aquila 32 Sport at 480,000 dollars, and a realistic range for a new boat is roughly 450,000 to 520,000 dollars depending on engines, joystick, generator, air conditioning and electronics. That is well below the 650,000 dollars MarineMax shows for the 36 Sport and the 670,000 dollars for the new 35 Sport, which is why the 32 remains the entry point to the range.

Running costs are moderate for a twin-outboard cat: budget roughly 18,000 to 35,000 dollars a year for a slip wide enough for a 12-foot 8-inch beam, insurance, outboard and generator service, bottom paint and fuel. Catamaran slips cost more than monohull slips in many marinas, so check availability before buying.

What to look for in a used Aquila 32

Most used boats on the US market came through MarineMax, so dealer service records are usually available and worth requesting. Confirm which engine package the boat has, since 225 hp boats are noticeably slower than the 300s that produced the test numbers above. Check whether it has the hydraulic platform of the early boats or the later fixed platform, and whether air conditioning runs from a generator or from a lithium battery system.

Aquila told BoatTEST it was engineering hydrofoils for the 32 Sport. If a listing mentions foils, ask for documentation of what was fitted and by whom. Finally, inspect the keel guards and the leading edges of the hulls, since shallow-water owners love beaching cats with less than 2 feet of draft.