Viking Yachts: Luxury Meets Performance
Viking Yachts, builder of thoroughbred sportfishing boats, has one of the industry’s best reputations for quality and know-how. The company’s boats are seen widely in the offshore tournament fishing circuit, and their luxury appointments make them popular family yachts in coastal waters. Viking makes high-performance sportfishing yachts from 38 to 90 feet long.
In addition to classic sportfishers, Viking recently launched the Valhalla Boatworks brand, which builds luxury offshore center consoles. Valhalla makes center console saltwater fishing boats from 28 to 55 feet long.
The Heritage of Viking Yachts: A Legacy of Excellence
Viking Yachts traces its history to 1964 when Bill and Bob Healey purchased Peterson-Viking Builders, a New Jersey-based builder of 37-foot wooden fishing and cruising boats. The first fiberglass Vikings were launched in 1971, with the Viking 40 Convertable being the company’s first really successful boat. Over 600 40/41 models were sold.
During the following decades, Viking diversified by building large luxury motor yachts alongside its successful sportfishers. Over the years, the company has successfully grown and innovated in the class of luxury sportfishers, with the successful 55 being unveiled in 1995 and the 65 soon after that.
Viking is still based and builds its yachts in New Gretna, New Jersey. However, the company has added several other successful companies and service centers to its portfolio, including a service center in Riviera Beach, Florida, for those who travel south for the winter, Atlantic Marine Electronics (AME), and Palm Beach Towers (PBT). In 2019, Viking began the subsidiary Valhalla Boatworks to sell its brand of outboard-powered center console fishing boats.
The Viking brand motto is to build a better boat every day. The company has improved its building techniques, designs, and fishibility with every model so that each progressive model learns from its predecessors. Today, the second generation of the Healey family has taken the reigns, and the third is involved in operations.
Viking Yachts: Engineered for the Ultimate Fishing Experience
Viking takes building better boats seriously, from the design phase through production. The company continuously improves on successful models, listens to owner feedback, and works hard to make the new boats better than ever.
This owner’s feedback and continual evolution have made the company successful. Few other brands have such a devoted following among professional anglers, giving the company a unique dataset to improve their designs and layouts. The result is boats that can go from tournament to family cruiser in moments, which seem to have everything in just the right place.
Top Viking Models for Fishing Enthusiasts
Viking Yachts come in five different lines: Open bridge (also called “Convertibles”), Enclosed Bridge (also “Sky Bridge”), Billfish, Open (formerly called Express), and sport yachts. Most lines share similar hull shapes and overall features, varying only in their internal layout and helm positions.
The Convertibles, Sky Bridges, and Billfish are the most desirable Viking Yachts for fishing enthusiasts. These are the classic, pure-bred offshore fishing boats. These boats share cockpit designs and features that the company has mastered over decades of winning fishing tournaments around North America.
They all feature second-level center console helming that provides excellent sightlines for the skipper around the boat, plus large cockpits with room for anglers and mates to work without getting in each other’s way. Professionals in the charter and tournament circuit favor these boats.
The Viking Open and Sport Yacht lines have first-level helm stations but can be outfitted with towers and secondary helms from Palm Beach Towers. The Sport Yacht lineup takes the proven Viking hulls, giving them more space for entertaining and overnighting. While these boats still excel at any fishing adventure, their layouts appeal as all-around family boats capable of going anywhere and doing nearly anything.
Viking Sport Yachts are similar to express cruisers, popular boats from the Great Lakes and Northeast, where their enclosed cabins provide year-round boating options. They have the same range and security on lively water as many motor yachts. Perhaps, just a bit more security with the same amount of comfort.
Viking makes yachts ranging from 38 to 90 feet long. Size is all about the amount of people you want to carry and for how long. For example, the company’s 90EB flagship has a 224-square-foot cockpit for fishing and accommodations for ten, divided among large owner and VIP staterooms and smaller crew cabins.
Under their subsidiary brand, Valhalla Boatworks, Viking also produces a line of full-featured, outboard-powered, luxury center console fishing boats. The current lineup includes boats from 28 to 55 feet.
Comfort on the Open Sea: Living Aboard a Viking Yacht
While fishing is in everything Viking does, the company is committed to making first-class yachts with luxurious onboard amenities. These boats are comfortable to stay on for long periods, whether you’re living aboard or taking a long cruise south for the winter.
One feature that sets this style boat apart from others is the spacious and light-filled salon. Most Viking models have dinette and settee seating with wrap-around windows. Larger boats feature a day head and galley-up design, with breakfast bar seating that places everyone in one inviting social area.
Viking makes private staterooms below with island double berths or single bunks. The mix is often customizable depending on whether you’re building a family or charter boat.
Innovative Features for Fishermen and Leisure Seekers Alike
Viking’s engineering teams continually come up with new ways to keep the boats as light, strong, and functional as possible. Many of their changes aren’t immediately apparent, from their outward appearance; a new Viking does not appear radically different from one built twenty years ago.
But there have been important changes. The fiberglass layup process has evolved to keep the boats light and efficient. The company uses foam coring and vacuum infusion techniques to keep the weight as low as possible without sacrificing structural strength. Engine stringers are reinforced with one-inch-thick aluminum beams. The fuel tanks are made in-house and shaped to match the hull perfectly, providing another reinforcement point once installed.
The company also continually improves the layouts of the boats. One change over the years has appeared on the flybridge. Vikings now feature a central helm console, where a side console was once the standard. The central helm allows you to walk around and gives the skipper sightlines around the boat.
Maintenance Tips for Keeping Your Viking Yacht at Peak Performance
Sportfishing boats are designed to be used year-round in the most challenging and hostile offshore conditions. With this in mind, Vikings are built strong but also easy to work on and maintain. For the most part, keeping the boat clean with regular washes and waxes is about the most maintenance you’ll have to do.
Regarding boat storage, Vikings are too big for out-of-the-water storage, so you’ll need a marina slip and plan for at least annual haul-outs. In northern climates, you may opt for a seasonal layup during winter, but many owners enjoy moving their boats south to extend their fishing season. Viking runs maintenance facilities in New Jersey and Riviera Beach, Florida.
The Viking Yacht Lifestyle: Beyond Just Boating
Viking boats are fixtures along the East Coast and at nearly every offshore fishing tournament. In addition, owners are known to meet up and host their own impromptu competitions. While the Viking Yachts brand might be the domain of the Healeys, the Viking family grows with every yacht sold.
Why Choose Viking Yachts for Your Fishing Adventures?
Sportfishing boats are purpose-built battlewagons. Few boats are designed to go out in all conditions, provide an awesome fishing experience in any environment, and bring home the fish and the smiles. Viking Yachts has been committed to these goals from the outset, and the owners will be the first to tell you that they live up to the hype.
But in recent years, sportfishers have lost some luster to the multitasker of the fishing world, the center console boats. The new Valhalla brand is a nod to this fact. Indeed, the list of companies making true sportfish boats has dwindled. Center consoles generally win out with most buyers thanks to their lower operating costs and greater versatility.
So, who’s a Viking right for? If you want a purebred sportfisher, nothing else will do, and that’s where Viking shines. If you want an offshore fishing boat with more luxurious accommodations than you can find in any center console, Viking is the boat for you. However, if you need a day boat for offshore fishing and maybe charters, there are many center consoles worth looking at and comparing to the 40 to 60-foot Vikings.
