The latest Roger Hill-designed vessel, the 14-metre power catamaran called “AYANA”, has emerged from production at Noosa Marine and is now stored at The Boat Works, awaiting delivery to her discerning owners who plan to cruise from the Gold Coast back to their home waters of WA.
The fully-custom designed and built power cat is replete with unique features befitting a luxurious liveaboard vessel. With her planing hull, AYANA was built to survey with the intention of offering day charters cruising Rottnest, Margaret River and the Swan River.
As Julian Griffiths, Director at Noosa Marine explains: “AYANA weighs around 12.8 tonnes and has loads of extras. Her owner is an experienced boatie and wanted the works.”
AYANA is a spacious three-cabin multihull conceived for day charter, with a massive, versatile cockpit for entertaining or angling, which flows into the large saloon, also decked out for socialising with dinette, galley, AV and large windows for panoramic views. The enclosed flybridge features the helm and an L-shaped lounge and dining table, while the aft deck is fitted with a davit for the vessel’s tender.
Designer Roger Hill said the list of ‘must haves’ was daunting for him as a designer and for the team at Noosa Marine.
“From my perspective, the challenges involved weight control more than anything else. AYANA is a 14-metre superyacht. It probably has more fridges and freezers than any other 14-metre afloat!
“There is no such thing as a boat that is not some form of resolved compromise. But this boat is probably as close to what the owners would say has everything they want in a 14-metre package and from my point of view the biggest compromise will be the performance of the planing hull, which will still achieve around 28 knots.”
According to Roger, building to survey requires more structural material and more safety details, which results in extra weight and additional costs of around 20 percent.
“This boat was built to the highest standard of survey in Australia so it is at the top end of the spectrum for cost and compliance,” adds Roger.
From briefing to completion, construction took just 13 months. The Noosa Marine production team comprised Julian, Max, two apprentices and a labourer.
Key to their efficiency was the use of the pre-cut DuFLEX panel system from ATL Composites.
Other DuFlex panels in AYANA were cored with Divinycell’s H80, an industry standard for marine projects and ATL’s Featherlight Marine Interior panels combined Divinycell H60 core with 600gm double bias laminates.
All components for the build, from temporary framing to structural hull sections, bulkheads through to the interior fit-out for AYANA were digitised from design files and nested to optimise the number of panels required for the project that were with ATL’s proprietary Z-Joint for joining and subsequent quick assembly.
“DuFLEX is incredible for saving time and reducing weight onboard,” Julian attests. “DuFlex offers builders a very high-quality panel and very precise accuracy, and for the client, an assurance of structural integrity.”
Roger agrees, stating: “Using the ATL Composites DuFlex panel system is a great way to build a boat particularly when it is embraced so well by this builder. Personally, I really appreciate the service and help that the team at ATL offers me as a designer. Their back-up and support are great.”