Aquila 54 Yacht Power Catamaran, Price, Specs and Ownership Guide

What you are really buying when you search Aquila 54 for sale

Most people who type Aquila 54 for sale into a search bar have already decided they want a big power catamaran. The real question is which configuration of this one boat they want, because the Aquila 54 Yacht was sold with more permutations than almost anything else in its size range: three, four or five cabins, galley-up or galley-down, open flybridge or enclosed sky lounge, and three different engine packages. Two listings with the same year and similar asking prices can be very different boats to live on.

Aquila announced the 54 in mid 2020, when Power and Motoryacht ran it as a new boat at roughly $2 million base, and the first hulls reached owners in 2021. The order book filled quickly; Yachting reported 27 hulls sold before the first boat was even in the water, a remarkable number for a $2 million yacht and a sign of how hard MarineMax pushed the model through its dealer network. That pre-sale wave is why the brokerage market now has a steady flow of 2021 to 2023 boats to choose from.

The boat is a big step up from the Aquila 44 that put the brand on the map. At 54 feet 2 inches long and 25 feet 2 inches wide it has a footprint closer to a 70-foot monohull than to a 54, and Aquila designed it to be owner-operated by a capable couple while still hosting a crowd.

J&J Design's bulbous bows and a taller tunnel

Early powercats earned a reputation for slamming, the sharp crack you hear when a wave hits the underside of the bridgedeck between the hulls. The 54 attacks that problem in two ways. First, the tunnel is higher and the forward end of it carries a wave-splitter that divides oncoming water before it can climb into the gap. Second, J&J Design gave each hull a pronounced bulbous bow below the waterline.

The bulbs add buoyancy forward, which damps pitching when the boat is running into a head sea, and they lengthen the effective waterline at displacement speeds, which is where the 54's long range comes from. Aquila designed the nose cones as sacrificial, breakaway pieces, so a hard strike on a log or a reef damages a replaceable cone rather than the hull structure behind it. Molded-in spray rails on the hull sides keep the foredeck drier than on the first generation of Aquila designs.

BoatTEST and Yachting numbers with the 480 hp upgrade

BoatTEST ran a 2021 hull with twin 480 hp Volvo Penta D6 diesels and four-blade bronze props in calm water, loaded to about 53,176 pounds with 345 gallons of fuel and five people aboard. The results show a boat with two distinct personalities. At 1,000 rpm it idles along at 5.4 knots burning 1.7 gallons per hour for both engines combined. At 1,750 rpm it makes 8.6 knots on 7.5 gph, which is the speed most owners will use for long passages to the Bahamas or down the ICW.

Climbing over the hump costs fuel. At 2,600 rpm the boat is at 11.9 knots and burning 21 gph, the least efficient zone on the curve. Push to 2,800 rpm and it breaks free at 15.7 knots on 23 gph, then 18.7 knots at 3,200 rpm on 32.5 gph. Wide open at 3,650 rpm it reached 21.9 knots on 49 gph. Yachting's own test with 480 hp Volvo D8s produced almost identical results, a 22-knot top end, a 15.5-knot cruise and a range of about 957 nautical miles at 7.8 knots.

The practical takeaway is to run this boat either slow or at a real planing cruise. Anything between about 10 and 13 knots burns planing fuel while delivering displacement speed. Aquila's earlier marketing quoted top speeds of 24 to 28 knots with the bigger engines, and the Cummins QSB6.7 550s will get you closer to the upper end of that bracket, but buyers should expect low to mid 20s in normal loaded trim.

Volvo D6 380, Volvo 480 or Cummins 550

Three engine packages appear on the used market. The standard pair of Volvo Penta D6 380 hp diesels suits owners who plan to cruise at 8 to 10 knots and rarely plane. It saves money up front and keeps maintenance simpler, but a fully loaded boat with the sky lounge enclosure and full water tanks will feel underpowered when you want to outrun weather.

The 480 hp Volvo option, built on either the D6 or D8 block depending on the year, is the package most of the test data describes and the one we would look for first. It gives a usable mid-teens cruise without stretching the engines, and Volvo dealer support is easy to find along the US East Coast.

The Cummins QSB6.7 550 package is the performance choice. It adds top speed and makes high-teens cruising more relaxed, and it appeals to owners with Cummins experience from previous boats. It also adds purchase price and, at 1,100 combined horsepower, burns noticeably more fuel at full throttle. A 2023 boat with Cummins 550s was asking about $2.8 million in 2024, well above Volvo-powered sisterships.

• Volvo D6 380 hp: lowest price, best for trawler-speed owners
• Volvo 480 hp: the balanced choice and the best documented
• Cummins QSB6.7 550 hp: fastest, most expensive to buy and run
• Tankage: 581 gallons standard, with BoatTEST listing about 765 gallons on its test boat once reserve capacity is included

Galley-up, galley-down and the five cabin charter plan

Every version puts a full-beam master stateroom forward on the bridgedeck level, with big hull windows and a walk-around bed. That is the single best space aboard and a real advantage over catamarans that bury the owner in one hull.

The three cabin galley-up layout is the classic owner's boat. The galley sits in the saloon next to the aft doors, so the cook stays with guests and passes food straight to the cockpit dining table. The hulls hold two large guest staterooms, each with its own head and shower. The four cabin plans come in galley-up and galley-down versions; moving the galley into a hull frees saloon space for a bigger lounge but isolates whoever is cooking. The five cabin version exists mainly for charter, and it squeezes storage hard.

A skipper's cabin accessed from the aft deck was offered on many boats and is worth having even if you never hire crew, because it turns into excellent storage or a bunk room for grandchildren. Aquila replaced visible fiberglass in the interior with upholstered bulkheads and overheads, a noticeable improvement in finish over earlier models.

Portuguese bridge, sky lounge and a beam-wide swim step

The flybridge is reached by an internal-feeling stair from the cockpit, and a centerline stairway leads forward from the bridge down to the bow through the Portuguese bridge. That small detail changes how the boat is used: guests can move from the flybridge to the foredeck lounge without squeezing along the side decks, and the person handling lines forward can get back to the helm quickly.

Buyers choose between an open flybridge with a hardtop and a fully enclosed sky lounge with air conditioning. The sky lounge turns the boat into a two-saloon yacht and is the more valuable option at resale in Florida, where summer heat makes an open bridge less useful. A solid glass windscreen was standard.

Aft, a three-section swim step spans the full width of the transom when deployed, creating a huge platform for swimming and tender handling.

Dockage, insurance and the real annual budget

The 25-foot beam is the biggest single ownership issue. Many marinas price a powercat this wide as a 70 to 80-foot yacht or require an end tie, and in South Florida or the Northeast in summer that can run $40,000 to $80,000 a year on its own. Insurance for a $2 million twin-diesel yacht with a Bahamas cruising area typically runs $20,000 to $35,000 depending on experience and named-storm plans.

Fuel is more manageable than on a monohull of equal volume. An owner who cruises 300 hours a year mostly at 8 to 9 knots will burn well under 3,000 gallons. Add generator service, bottom paint on two hulls, running gear, canvas or enclosure maintenance and electronics updates and a realistic all-in budget is $120,000 to $220,000 a year before crew. Most owners run the boat themselves, which is what the layout was designed for.

Resale so far and how to price a 2021 to 2025 boat

Because the first boats only hit the water in 2021, the depreciation curve is still short. In mid 2025 nine Aquila 54s were listed between roughly $1.2 million and $2.3 million, and a 2021 boat was asking about $2.17 million in 2024. Our 2026 estimate puts early hulls with Volvo 380s and charter history around $1.15 to $1.4 million, well-kept private 2022 and 2023 boats from about $1.5 to $2.1 million, and late Cummins or sky lounge boats up to about $2.4 million.

Value holds best on three and four cabin owner boats with the sky lounge, a gyro stabilizer and documented Volvo or Cummins dealer service. Since MarineMax is the exclusive US dealer, ask the selling broker for the commissioning and warranty records held by the MarineMax store that sold the boat.