Good morning! This is Vicki and Owen, calling to you from Palmas del Mar Puerto Rico! We have watched your BVI charter videos and your new Aquila 54 videos... and we are now subscribed. We are taking possession of our Aquila 48 power cat next week. Starting next week, we will be in Florida, Savannah, the Fort Lauderdale Boat show, and the Bahamas through October. We very much look forward to following your adventures.... and maybe we'll bump into you on the road some day, because our usage will be mostly between Puerto Rico and USVI and BVI on a random monthly basis.
Look into Pepwave...works off one or two sim cards and into wifi, can put in a local sim card for the country you're in and not have to switch all your devices over bc they have the same wifi signal. I use it on an RV and works great...plex movie NAS system is also great for boats and storing your movies shows onboard
By the way for cheap wifi, I use a Mikrotik RBmetal G 52 shpacn antenna for wifi. Its not big and cost less than $200 but helps in marinas for stronger wifi and also can receive wifi 6 miles out in a straight line from any marina you have connected too. just a thought and a cheap alternate. I have use it on my boat for the past 5 years.
Watching all these boat vids, I’ve learned one thing; on a boat you gotta know how everything works and have basic knowledge of components or else your looking at $$$$$ vs a house $$.
Thanks for the heads up about the Webasto controls. Last weekend my thermostat indicated 90 and the the pump would not come on. This has been the summer of mud! I will try to bring it on in stages when we go back to the boat. I really like the Webasto AC except for the controls.
Nice surprise to see you posted a video yesterday. If I got the notification, I missed it. Alway a pleasure and informative watching you do your thing. Can't wait to you get all the bugs worked out. I am laughing at some of the comments below about boat ownership. What you are going through is forcing you to learn your boat and it's actually the best way to learn. It may not seem important but I am sure you know, "if its going to happen, it's going to happen out there." So the more you learn in a controlled environment the better it will be out there! Keep the videos coming. We enjoy them more than you do making them! Paul & Linda S/V The Friendly Confines
5 gallon buckets are your friend! 3 gallon icing buckets from WalMart bakery also, and, a little stool, and a folding high chair...to set buckets on. been there.
This is just an idea but maybe visit an RV dealer and ask about the roof top Air Conditioner unites they put on the top of all those trailers maybe work on your roof to lower temperature in your wheel house without adding another chiller? It's just a thought.
The situation with StarLink and Cruisers is changing for the better. The first official release for "boats" is aimed at the massive cruise ship industry and is VERY expensive, (around $10,000 for equipment and $5000 a month for service) But, by this time next year, a system for smaller vessels should be available for a price point closer to that of home owners. We'll see what and when that happens???
Question: Love your videos. Would love to get your thoughts on the size of your boat and if you feel you made the right choice buying the 54? The 44 is not much smaller.
Another great video. Looks like you are getting the routine down of boat life. We are doing a charter in the BVI coming up. In your latest BVI trip who did you use for the water taxi?
Is there any sort of backflush function (similar to a pool pump & filter set-up) that would allow you to try to reverse the flow of the chiller to try to push the mud back the way it came? Also, the duct tape wrap job on that top hose/line on the chiller looks sketchy. If you didn’t unwrap that & try to re-wrap it during your A/C challenges, you might want to have that rewrapped. Not sure why that needs to be fully wrapped with heavily overlapped duct tape but if it does, those last several inches look rushed
Good video. Very surprised by inadequate A/C in pilothouse -- Aquila should have better engineering than that. Buy the boat looks supremely comfortable and I saw in prior video that it gets up and scoots.
@@thewanderinghillbilly The ICW around SAV is very shallow in some places and it is very easy to find yourself sliding through pluff mud which has the consistency of pudding. I have lurked and enjoyed your videos for some time and recently took the plunge and chartered in the BVI over the 4th of July holiday. I got to take apart all the water lines on my generator in the middle of the night as the intake line was plugged with debris. Good times good times! Travel safe and best of luck as you continue the ownership journey.
Is there a video where you covered the story behind this? I feel like all of a sudden you just had a boat and I didn't see any "hey gang, we're buying a boat" videos.
I talked about it a lot in my BVI charter questions videos. But you’ve given me a good subject matter. Discuss the buying process. It’s an interesting idea.
I know this comment is a little late compared to the number of videos you have out beyond this one. I was wondering why you chose the Aquila 54 versus the Horizon PC 52. Is it due to the owner state room in the front?
Two major things. Owner's suite definitely convinced us...also the stairs and access from the bridge all the way to the bow. big deal when I have a rookie crew aboard and I need to run down and help out. also, the third cabin on an Horizon is separate single beds. very happy with my choice. thanks for watching!
@@bobvogel1598 the price difference between a bering 65 and this aquila is huge! But agree with the build quality of this boat! It all looks very cheaply built! Would not be confident on it's condition in 5 years! If I was to buy a small yacht it would be princess ferritti or bering and a few others! You want to enjoy your boat from new for a minimum 10 years without an issue! You only get what you pay for especially in the yacht world! Happy sailing all and God bless all❤🙏⚓🛥
Sorry to say but Aquila’s are very poor quality and Chinese made. You’re going to have a lifetime of issues with this boat. I’ve never met an owner who loves his Aquila.
Alan, we love your videos and your “straight shooting” approach. They were a great help last years when we chartered with MarineMax in the BVI. Great to see you are home porting out of Savannah. We are on the ICW in Charleston. This stretch of the coast provides a great place to Cruise. If / when you head up towards Charleston reach out and I can provide a shopping list of great things to see / do and places to eat and drink. My extent of social media is LinkedIn so I’ll have my wife Karen try and connect with you on Facebook or instagram. Regards, Bo Franklin
Ok, its going to be kinda long. I’ll break into multiple if it does not fit in one. FOOD: Get reservations NOW! Restaurants: get reservation right away. Tons of great restaurants but their are tons of hungry people. Your probably already a little late so have you assistant call (not open table) and name drop if she has to. Seafood: 167 Raw, Hanks, sushi Shiki Steak and best service: Halls Chophouse - get the Bison fillet. It’s not on the menu but its always available Others: waterfront for lunch at Fleet Landing, dinners: Wild Common, R Kitchen, Magnolias, SNOB, The Post House (in old Mt. Pleasant), Amen Street, burgers and rooftop at The Watch (in the Restoration Hotel) Bars: Pavilion Rooftop; Rooftop at the Dewberry, Rooftop at The Bennett, Barn next to Husk Things everyone must do once: carriage ride - its touristy but you learn the history of the city! Get off main streets and walk the side streets, walk through little parks, learn about the monuments, and read the placards…very interesting town. Rent bikes and ride the city especially south of Broad. Buy a sweetgrass basket - they are simply beautiful and totally lowcountry. If you rent a car Go see the Angel Oak on Johns Island - its just a tree but when you see it you will be like WoW….unbelievably beautiful! Also if you have a car go to Middleton Plantation. Beaches: Folly - eclectic - a small town time forgot; Wild Dunes and Isle of Palms public access (to the north of downtown - tourist location); Kiawah - public access - swing by The Sanctuary Hotel and lunch or dinner (just tell guard stand you are going to lunch at the Sanctuary) . Tourist location, swanky. But Kiawah is a beautiful island - rent some bikes - bike trails everywhere like when you were at St. Simons. Shopping: Kings Street and at least one walk through the market (one walk through is all you need - rather touristy) Seeing the city by water ( no worries for the Wandering Hillbilly); drink at a bar in Shem Creek; venture out to Capers to walk among the petrified tree forest. As you approach Charleston on the ICW we live at Green Day board 21A (on the right). I’ll be in the UK all next week on business but be back in town on the 26th if you have any question / issues. I’m a life long boater and USCG Masters captain. If you want to talk any boating / navigation specifics around Charleston or between Charleston and Beaufort give me a call or send me a text and I’ll try and send you some screen shots. 704-675-one four seven four. Couple other notes for the trip. Beaufort is worth a lunch stop or overnight stay. Small but very quaint. Wrens is a great place to eat. Also, I’ve only been there once but Daufuskie island a unique place….kinda like a place time forgot with abandoned resorts and golf coursed. Might be worth a stop for a couple hours. There is an old marina and restaurant (very rustic). Rent a golf cart and ride around the island especially thru Melrose plantation. Safe travels
I had a similar situation landing a drone on a yacht with a battery that was going dead. The drone entered return mode but we were about a mile away from where we took off. I did exactly what you did haha hand almost lost a finger in the process !
Good morning! This is Vicki and Owen, calling to you from Palmas del Mar Puerto Rico! We have watched your BVI charter videos and your new Aquila 54 videos... and we are now subscribed. We are taking possession of our Aquila 48 power cat next week. Starting next week, we will be in Florida, Savannah, the Fort Lauderdale Boat show, and the Bahamas through October. We very much look forward to following your adventures.... and maybe we'll bump into you on the road some day, because our usage will be mostly between Puerto Rico and USVI and BVI on a random monthly basis.
Look into Pepwave...works off one or two sim cards and into wifi, can put in a local sim card for the country you're in and not have to switch all your devices over bc they have the same wifi signal. I use it on an RV and works great...plex movie NAS system is also great for boats and storing your movies shows onboard
By the way for cheap wifi, I use a Mikrotik RBmetal G 52 shpacn antenna for wifi. Its not big and cost less than $200 but helps in marinas for stronger wifi and also can receive wifi 6 miles out in a straight line from any marina you have connected too. just a thought and a cheap alternate.
I have use it on my boat for the past 5 years.
Watching all these boat vids, I’ve learned one thing; on a boat you gotta know how everything works and have basic knowledge of components or else your looking at $$$$$ vs a house $$.
Thanks for the heads up about the Webasto controls. Last weekend my thermostat indicated 90 and the the pump would not come on. This has been the summer of mud! I will try to bring it on in stages when we go back to the boat. I really like the Webasto AC except for the controls.
Glad I could help. Drove me nuts until we figured it out. Thanks for watching!
Nice surprise to see you posted a video yesterday. If I got the notification, I missed it. Alway a pleasure and informative watching you do your thing. Can't wait to you get all the bugs worked out. I am laughing at some of the comments below about boat ownership. What you are going through is forcing you to learn your boat and it's actually the best way to learn. It may not seem important but I am sure you know, "if its going to happen, it's going to happen out there." So the more you learn in a controlled environment the better it will be out there! Keep the videos coming. We enjoy them more than you do making them!
Paul & Linda
S/V The Friendly Confines
Pretty impressed with your irritations…squeaky floor…keeping ‘em on the level 😅
Thanks for watching!!
Great info on the real life of boat ownership.
5 gallon buckets are your friend! 3 gallon icing buckets from WalMart bakery also, and, a little stool, and a folding high chair...to set buckets on. been there.
This is just an idea but maybe visit an RV dealer and ask about the roof top Air Conditioner unites they put on the top of all those trailers maybe work on your roof to lower temperature in your wheel house without adding another chiller? It's just a thought.
Keep the Aquila owner tips stuff coming. Need that! Thanks
Great video, saw your first impression video and you had stated the cat tender was a bit pricey, would you mind if I ask how much it was?
Congrats again on the new 54!
Awesome information, loving this channel! Earned sub!!
The situation with StarLink and Cruisers is changing for the better. The first official release for "boats" is aimed at the massive cruise ship industry and is VERY expensive, (around $10,000 for equipment and $5000 a month for service) But, by this time next year, a system for smaller vessels should be available for a price point closer to that of home owners. We'll see what and when that happens???
Hi ..Just a question.. Would a low mount rv a/c unit would work for you...If there is a place ...
But nice cat.... Enjoy it.....
Love the vids. Fire the ac thermostat programmer.
BTW, your boat is lovely. Bummer on all the issues on a new boat.
It is standard procedure to double-clamp hoses, particularly those running to and from the engine.
agreed!
Been waiting for you to post. Thanks for the insight
Question: Love your videos. Would love to get your thoughts on the size of your boat and if you feel you made the right choice buying the 54? The 44 is not much smaller.
It is 10 feet smaller I guess?
Another great video. Looks like you are getting the routine down of boat life. We are doing a charter in the BVI coming up. In your latest BVI trip who did you use for the water taxi?
thanks for your video ,
So what I have learned so far is I probably shouldn't take my boat into Louisiana up into Lake Charles. Any suggestions
Is there any sort of backflush function (similar to a pool pump & filter set-up) that would allow you to try to reverse the flow of the chiller to try to push the mud back the way it came? Also, the duct tape wrap job on that top hose/line on the chiller looks sketchy. If you didn’t unwrap that & try to re-wrap it during your A/C challenges, you might want to have that rewrapped. Not sure why that needs to be fully wrapped with heavily overlapped duct tape but if it does, those last several inches look rushed
Excellent video.
Good video. Very surprised by inadequate A/C in pilothouse -- Aquila should have better engineering than that. Buy the boat looks supremely comfortable and I saw in prior video that it gets up and scoots.
Do you plan on entering your boat into a charter service?
Any ideas on how the mud clogged up the AC? And the future is bright for the Rangers!
Yup. I think I scraped bottom just outside of Savannah. I didn’t really “feel” anything from the bridge but it’s a big heavy boat, so….yeah
@@thewanderinghillbilly The ICW around SAV is very shallow in some places and it is very easy to find yourself sliding through pluff mud which has the consistency of pudding. I have lurked and enjoyed your videos for some time and recently took the plunge and chartered in the BVI over the 4th of July holiday. I got to take apart all the water lines on my generator in the middle of the night as the intake line was plugged with debris. Good times good times! Travel safe and best of luck as you continue the ownership journey.
Is there a video where you covered the story behind this? I feel like all of a sudden you just had a boat and I didn't see any "hey gang, we're buying a boat" videos.
I talked about it a lot in my BVI charter questions videos. But you’ve given me a good subject matter. Discuss the buying process. It’s an interesting idea.
Isn't the standard for all hose connections in boats to have double clamps when you have the room too.
It is. and there are double clamps on every hose on this boat...except that one. nuts. thanks for watching
I know this comment is a little late compared to the number of videos you have out beyond this one. I was wondering why you chose the Aquila 54 versus the Horizon PC 52. Is it due to the owner state room in the front?
Two major things. Owner's suite definitely convinced us...also the stairs and access from the bridge all the way to the bow. big deal when I have a rookie crew aboard and I need to run down and help out. also, the third cabin on an Horizon is separate single beds. very happy with my choice. thanks for watching!
Hello.
I'm in 🇦🇺 I'm thinking about buying a Aquilla 54 for a few months now.
Don’t waste your money…. Junk! Go to turkeys and buy a Bering 65, the only boat to buy over 1milloin
@@bobvogel1598 the price difference between a bering 65 and this aquila is huge! But agree with the build quality of this boat! It all looks very cheaply built! Would not be confident on it's condition in 5 years! If I was to buy a small yacht it would be princess ferritti or bering and a few others! You want to enjoy your boat from new for a minimum 10 years without an issue! You only get what you pay for especially in the yacht world! Happy sailing all and God bless all❤🙏⚓🛥
Geeze new boat pains
Not sure what the blue thing is thewater hose that came off is going to but why would an oil change require that clamp to be touched at all?
My guess is he loosened it to attach the filters
Hair out of control ? What hair ? See if the hair restore company will sponsor you !
For the price point you shouldn’t have any problems cooling off in the AC. Disappointed in the build quality overall.
Not sure about the hair problem........if you had any less, you would be bald. LOL😊😂🤣😜
Sorry to say but Aquila’s are very poor quality and Chinese made. You’re going to have a lifetime of issues with this boat. I’ve never met an owner who loves his Aquila.
Alan, we love your videos and your “straight shooting” approach. They were a great help last years when we chartered with MarineMax in the BVI. Great to see you are home porting out of Savannah. We are on the ICW in Charleston. This stretch of the coast provides a great place to Cruise. If / when you head up towards Charleston reach out and I can provide a shopping list of great things to see / do and places to eat and drink. My extent of social media is LinkedIn so I’ll have my wife Karen try and connect with you on Facebook or instagram. Regards, Bo Franklin
Hey! We are headed to Charleston in a week or so!! Cruising up that way around the 21st…would love to have suggestions.
Ok, its going to be kinda long. I’ll break into multiple if it does not fit in one. FOOD: Get reservations NOW!
Restaurants: get reservation right away. Tons of great restaurants but their are tons of hungry people. Your probably already a little late so have you assistant call (not open table) and name drop if she has to.
Seafood: 167 Raw, Hanks, sushi Shiki
Steak and best service: Halls Chophouse - get the Bison fillet. It’s not on the menu but its always available
Others: waterfront for lunch at Fleet Landing, dinners: Wild Common, R Kitchen, Magnolias, SNOB, The Post House (in old Mt. Pleasant), Amen Street, burgers and rooftop at The Watch (in the Restoration Hotel)
Bars: Pavilion Rooftop; Rooftop at the Dewberry, Rooftop at The Bennett, Barn next to Husk
Things everyone must do once: carriage ride - its touristy but you learn the history of the city! Get off main streets and walk the side streets, walk through little parks, learn about the monuments, and read the placards…very interesting town. Rent bikes and ride the city especially south of Broad. Buy a sweetgrass basket - they are simply beautiful and totally lowcountry. If you rent a car Go see the Angel Oak on Johns Island - its just a tree but when you see it you will be like WoW….unbelievably beautiful! Also if you have a car go to Middleton Plantation.
Beaches: Folly - eclectic - a small town time forgot; Wild Dunes and Isle of Palms public access (to the north of downtown - tourist location); Kiawah - public access - swing by The Sanctuary Hotel and lunch or dinner (just tell guard stand you are going to lunch at the Sanctuary) . Tourist location, swanky. But Kiawah is a beautiful island - rent some bikes - bike trails everywhere like when you were at St. Simons.
Shopping: Kings Street and at least one walk through the market (one walk through is all you need - rather touristy)
Seeing the city by water ( no worries for the Wandering Hillbilly); drink at a bar in Shem Creek; venture out to Capers to walk among the petrified tree forest.
As you approach Charleston on the ICW we live at Green Day board 21A (on the right). I’ll be in the UK all next week on business but be back in town on the 26th if you have any question / issues. I’m a life long boater and USCG Masters captain. If you want to talk any boating / navigation specifics around Charleston or between Charleston and Beaufort give me a call or send me a text and I’ll try and send you some screen shots. 704-675-one four seven four.
Couple other notes for the trip. Beaufort is worth a lunch stop or overnight stay. Small but very quaint. Wrens is a great place to eat. Also, I’ve only been there once but Daufuskie island a unique place….kinda like a place time forgot with abandoned resorts and golf coursed. Might be worth a stop for a couple hours. There is an old marina and restaurant (very rustic). Rent a golf cart and ride around the island especially thru Melrose plantation.
Safe travels
I had a similar situation landing a drone on a yacht with a battery that was going dead. The drone entered return mode but we were about a mile away from where we took off. I did exactly what you did haha hand almost lost a finger in the process !
HVAC controller should have better logic. That is a fail by the manufacturer IMO. You having to change it as temps come down = a work around.