Image Marine, an Austal Group company (Australia), delivered a 39-metre live-aboard aluminium catamaran to Four Seasons Resort for operation in the coastal waters of the Maldives. Island Explorer is designed as a mini ‘floating hotel’ which provides comfortable accommodation for up to 22 passengers. The catamaran combines generous deck area and carrying capacity with good seakeeping qualities further enhanced by a Seastate Motion Control System consisting of foils forward on each hull.

Ten passenger cabins on the main deck incorporate all the features one expects to find in a modern hotel room ashore. The aft section of the upper deck cabin is an open plan dining and lounge area, served by a galley that is to the standard of a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen. Each hull contains three and four berth crew cabins separated by common toilet/shower compartments.

A loaded speed of 17 knots is achieved with two MTU 12V 2000 diesels driving 5-bladed propellers. Each machinery space also houses a Perkins generating set. The vessel’s three Citor watermakers have a combined daily output of 20,000 litres. The hydraulics ‘Smartpac’ serving the Motion Control System and the anchor winch are fitted on the port side. Island Explorer carries four rigid inflatable tenders. Storage for the two 5.5 metre RIBs is provided forward of each swim platform, while the 4.0 metre vessels are carried on the upper deck. Palfinger marine cranes located on the aft corners of the main deck make tender launching and retrieval simple and efficient.