VESSEL REVIEW | Aquarius II – Catamaran built for dive tours off Port Douglas, Australia

Joint Thai- and Australian-owned shipbuilder SeaCat Ships has delivered a new all-aluminium catamaran vessel for use on dive charter sailings out of the town of Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia.

Designed by SeaCat sister company SeaSpeed Designs, the bespoke Aquarius II has an LOA of 23.97 metres, a beam of nine metres, a draught of only 1.79 metres, and space for 125 divers plus five crewmembers when operating in coastal waters, though up to 200 passengers can be carried when the vessel is utilised as a ferry. The vessel is also suited for overnight accommodation use with six spacious guest cabins plus two crew cabins.

The vessel is equipped with an in-built air compressor and hydraulic dive platform for snorkeling and scuba diving. The aft dive deck has four toilets including hot and cold water showers as well as wetsuit lockers. The vessel was designed to be spacious and comfortable with forward walk-around sides on the upper deck and large forward and aft lounge decks.

Two MTU 8V2000 diesel engines that each produce 719 kW drive propellers via Twin Disc MGX 5114A gearboxes to enable Aquarius II to reach a top speed of over 30 knots and an operating speed of 25 knots at 70 per cent load. A Zenith 60kVA generator supplies electrical power for all onboard systems.

The main deck passenger cabin has space for a snack bar while mess tables are fitted on both main and upper decks.

Construction of Aquarius II was completed in compliance to both NSCV Class 1C requirements and Lloyd's Register SSC standards for offshore operations.

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