68 Viking Motor Yacht

Source: Eston Ellis, Sea Magazine

Viking’s new 68 Motor Yacht offers European style and U.S. reliability

Who hasn’t heard the siren call of a sexy European motoryacht — a boat with more curves than Sophia Loren and seemingly more speed at the skipper’s command than a Ferrari Testarosa?

But like that Ferrari, most American boaters have found those eye-catching European boats to be less than practical for everyday cruising. They may come equipped with hard-to-find, harder-to-repair gear and electronics of unfamiliar makes. And their layouts typically are designed for smaller, skinnier, shorter people who — for whatever reason — don’t seem to enjoy kicking back and getting comfortable.

Viking Yachts has changed all that. The company has introduced a new line of sport cruisers built in Europe to American specifications — and equipped with the gear, engines and electronics American boaters have grown familiar with over the years. As a result, each one of these curvaceous 40 to 82 foot European sport cruisers is not only beautiful, it is every bit as practical to run daily as a Northwest trawler.

Viking Sport Cruisers’ 68 Motor Yacht is one of the newest boats in the line, built through a unique partnership with the world’s largest producer of performance cruisers, Marine Projects Ltd. of Plymouth, England. Best known for building the Princess line of motoryachts, Marine Projects has created boats that are extremely popular on the Mediterranean and are big sellers in Europe.

Viking thought Americans would go for these sleek cruisers, too, if they were available with the components and arrangements that U.S. boaters usually demand: reliable diesel engines, well-known U.S. brand marine electronics, controls and appliances, and American-friendly interiors. So, the boats Marine Projects Ltd. builds for Viking are created — from the ground up — exclusively for the American market.

The 68, like other Vikings built by Marine Projects Ltd., must meet a list of demanding requirements. Each boat is built to Lloyd’s Register and American Boat and Yacht Council standards, and is fitted with beefy Viking-specified hardware. Staterooms, berths, heads, seating areas and companionways are made larger, to satisfy U.S. buyers.

Still, each of these European Vikings offers all the glamour and style you might expect from a Mediterranean cruiser — including artistically sculpted fiberglass surfaces, electric-assist aircraft-style doors, roomy sundecks outside and finely crafted quartered-grain wood cabinetry with intricate marquetry of cherry and maple inside.

Perhaps the most remarkable attribute of Viking’s new 68 Motor Yacht is its user-friendly design. This is a large boat — but it’s one that is designed to be handled by a cruising couple. It offers the responsive handling characteristics you’d expect from a much smaller boat, plus the fire-breathing power and effortless speed of a high-performance cruiser.

Reality Check
We tested Viking’s new 68 Motor Yacht off Newport Beach, California with the boat’s owner, John McMahon, and Phil Paul of The Crow’s Nest, the Southern California Viking dealer. It was a sunny, cool fall day, with lightly choppy seas.

Our test boat was equipped with an optional pair of 1,200 hp MAN diesels, which adds $68,000 to the price of the boat. The 68’s standard power package is a pair of 1,050 hp MAN diesels.

Our boat also was equipped with Mathers MicroCommander controls, Sidepower bow thrusters, Autohelm electronic instrumentation, VDO gauges and Raytheon marine electronics. Both the flybridge and pilothouse helm stations were fully outfitted — and all gauges, controls and electronics were positioned for maximum readability and convenient operation.

After leaving Newport Harbor, we ran offshore with four adults, a full tank of water and a one-third load of fuel. On open water, we cruised at around 28 mph. The boat’s deep-V hull knifed through the water and gave a dry, rock-solid ride throughout a variety of maneuvers, including hard turns, S-curves and sharp turns into our own wake.

But along with exhibiting remarkable stability, the boat was surprisingly responsive to the helm. Driving the 68 is like driving a small sportboat: When you turn the wheel, the boat turns immediately where you want it to go — and when you turn the wheel hard, the boat banks right into the turn, smoothly and assuredly.

The 68’s top speed with a pair of 1,200 MAN diesels is 39 mph. And even when running at top speed, the 68 is a very quiet boat. Conversation was easy on the flying bridge and in the cockpit, whether at idle or while our test boat was powering away at an impressive clip.

We ran the 68 from the flying bridge, which offers an electronics console that rises from the dash when in use. There’s comfortable seating for two at the helm, and the entire console is protected by a Venturi windshield.

An adjacent L-shaped settee wraps around a snack table and a console with a built-in barbecue, sink and refrigerator abaft the helm seats. Abundant storage is available under the settee.

Aft, the boat’s radar tower looks like a modernistic sculpture in fiberglass. At the top is the radar array, and two dome antennas for the boat’s satellite telephone system and satellite television receivers are positioned on each side.

Farther aft is a deck with ample room to keep a dinghy or personal watercraft, adjacent to a davit to launch and retrieve it with ease. Access to the cockpit is from steps leading aft; and access to the pilothouse is through steps adjacent to the helm, leading forward.

Insider’s View
A spiral staircase leads from the flybridge to the pilothouse. Here, aircraft-style electrically operated doors are built-in to port and starboard, leading to wide walk-around sidedecks protected by beefy stainless steel rails. A large U-shaped settee is to port, adjacent to a circular cherry table with a quartered-grain top and inlaid sides.

In the pilothouse — and throughout our test boat’s interior — the abundant, highly polished cherry wood interior cabinetry and trim was truly impressive.

The helm console, to starboard, is trimmed in burled wood and features Raytheon and Autohelm electronics, plus a chart holder and a well-arranged bank of rocker switches. A two-position helm seat makes room for a skipper and a navigator behind the console. The port side of the console features a well-labeled electrical panel.

Aft, a U-shaped galley is concealed behind two cherry wood pocket doors. It can be further concealed by forward and aft wood panels that rise and lower electrically to turn pass-throughs into walls. The galley features a large side window, Corian countertops, a four-burner electric glass-top range, a dishwasher, a trash compactor, an under-counter refrigerator/freezer, a microwave oven, a double sink and well-designed dish locker storage.

The saloon is a few steps down, aft; and staterooms are accessible from steps forward of the helm console, leading belowdecks.

Saloon features include a large U-shaped settee to starboard, a coffee table, a second settee to port and an under-counter entertainment center console. A Bose home theater system is available as an option. Big windows give both the saloon and pilothouse a bright, open look.

A sliding glass door leads aft to the large cockpit. It is protected by the overhang from the aft deck, which features halogen lighting overhead. The cockpit offers teak decks, a large fender locker and easy in-deck access to the lazarette and engine room, through a hatch with a hydraulic lift.

Aft, steps lead to a swim platform — actually more of a “swim deck” — that’s equipped with large storage lockers, a pull-out swim ladder, a hand-held hot and cold shower, and optional Glendinning cable minders that electrically reel in dock power cables.

The lazarette offers plenty of storage space and room for the boat’s sound-shielded 25 kw Onan generator. Forward, a separate soundproof door provides access to the engine room, which is designed with ample space around the boat’s twin diesels for easy maintenance. The engine room was well lighted, and our test boat had a 400 gallon per day water-maker aboard.

Most Accommodating
The 68’s staterooms offer truly luxurious accommodations. A full-width master stateroom is aft, offering an en suite head (our test boat had two separate master bath and head compartments), a king-size berth, a pair of hanging lockers, a vanity, opening portlights and abundant storage cabinets. There’s also a washer/dryer.

The forward guest stateroom has a double island berth, twin hanging lockers, abundant storage cabinets and an en suite head with shower.

An additional guest stateroom, adjacent to a guest head, offers twin berths and ample storage. And optional crew quarters, accessible from the foredeck, offer bunk-style berths and an en suite head.

After taking the wheel of Viking’s new 68 Motor Yacht, you may never look at a 68-footer the same way again. Here is a boat that breaks all the sedate motoryacht stereotypes, offering the driving excitement and style of a European speedster with the cruising comfort and reliability boaters have come to expect from U.S.-built Viking Yachts.