56 Viking Convertible

Source: Boatpoint Magazine

The refinement of finish and sophistication of engineering on Viking’s latest longship are luxuries undreamed of by your average barbarian, but the strength and seaworthiness of the hull would make any sea-dog proud

Boatowners accustomed to production craft develop an appreciation for fine engineering. They mightn’t be experienced with it, but eventually they see better ways of doing things. Those bitten by the long-range cruising bug might order a custom boat with all they’ve ever dreamed of. Or they could cut to the chase and jump aboard the fully cocked Viking 56 Convertible waiting at the dock. It’s setting new standards for production and custom boats Down Under.

The (re)appearance of this revered American badge solicited more “oohs” and “aahs” among experienced boatowners than I’ve heard in many an off season. At more than $3 million as tested you would expect to be wowed and wooed. But while the engineering holds the most sway, I was gob-smacked by just how far Viking has come since I first tested a wayward boat 15 years ago. The new 56 Convertible is fast, with a five-star interior and the range to stay away for weeks away at a time.

ATTACK OF THE VIKINGS
Viking caps its production at a little more than 100 boats from 45–74ft a year, with a view to improving its products rather than increasing production numbers, and Viking buyers come aboard for the proven seaworthiness of the company’s powerful hulls. The yard has in-house naval architects and the construction is unflappably medium-tech using a variety of composite laminates depending on the load areas.

The boat’s stiffness is derived from a complex layup and series of interlocking foam-filled stringers, reinforced keel, solid GRP and vinylester resin below the waterline, and balsa-cored bulkheads, decks and house. The factory is climate controlled for even curing of the hulls. Besides substantial engine room soundproofing the entire saloon floor is composite to provide insulation.

Longer and wider than its 55ft predecessor, the 56 Convertible has a beautiful sheerline, huge flared bow, tapered cabin lines to help prevent the wagon back effect of exhaust and spray in the cockpit, trick oval exhaust ports and a high-gloss gelcoat finish you would swear is Awlgrip. That two-pack paint is used for a high-gloss finish in the watertight engine room and to coat just about every skin fitting. And every single skin fitting is labelled, as are all the boat’s primary engineering items from fridge unit to desalinator prewiring and more.

Wonderfully accessible and obliging, the engine room has thermostat-controlled blowers, motor gauges and remote ignition switches, integral sea strainers rather than the clear inspection bowls, spare fuel filters, oil-change system, structural steel girder engine beds, and Y-valve emergency engine-driven pumps. Such is the engineering that there are even small reservoirs with bilge pumps to catch the air-con water and send it back overboard. These features could be considered over-engineered – for example, the air-con overflows could instead feed into a common plumbing line that exits the transom – but basically, the engine room is designed to be dry in fair and foul weather.

Underwater, the hull has prop tunnels and, with twin 1420hp C30 Caterpillar motors it’s a real weapon with a 30kt-plus cruise. The 5681lt fuel capacity, 908lt of water and 473lt holding tanks, all built from GRP and an integral part of the boat, mean you can really go places. The smooth ride was partly due to premium Veem or Michigan machined props.

At sea and at speed, the Viking 56 felt like a completely monocoque boat in that nothing was working independently. No creaks, rattles or rolls. Quiet, smokefree and comfortable. And built and engineered for effortless conversion to Queensland charter survey.

BIG HEARTED
Yet for all this fine engineering, the interior really shines. Indoors, past the sliding door on rollers, the boat is every bit as stunning as a European motoryacht. This isn’t so surprising when you learn that UK-made Princess boats are rebadged Vikings in America. I can see similarities in the standards of finish.

Highlights include timeless, high-gloss grain-matched, smooth, teak veneers, solid teak joinery frames, Ultraleather upholstery, trick blinds among the best I’ve seen on a boat and Corian-type counters. With navy blue upholstery, the boat had a timeless, elegant, contemporary ambience by day.

The fixed tinted saloon windows are at the perfect height to view the coast abeam from a big L-shaped portside lounge-come-daybed that has a rodlocker below. The air-con is tropical strength, run from the 56’s one and only 21.5KW generator, and upgraded to include an outlet in the flybridge. The saloon had the mandatory entertainment system with big-screen 42in Plasma digital television and Bose zoned surround sound. There’s a phone outlet for the marina jack, but you could go the whole hog and fit sat-com if you wanted.

A teak storage cabinet with room for an icemaker takes up the starboard side of the saloon. The AC/DC panel for the 240V and mainly 24V electricals are here. The systems are mind-blowingly good, with aircraft-grade wiring labelled every 30cm and without splices for maximising load. The boat is listed with twin battery chargers and a Glen dinning Cable master for push-button retrieval of the shore power listed as standard.

The supplied invertor means 240V power is at call, so you can, for example, watch a DVD in your cabin without needing to run the generator. A second AC/DC panel near the companionway leading down to the accommodation caters for primary below decks and cooking functions. The boat has a separate dinette than can easily seat four people opposite the galley.

Huge Corian counters trace the galley and, as it’s not down on a mezzanine level, the big open-plan space encourages interaction with guests. Fridge and freezer space is absolutely incredible: four Sub Zero pullout under counter fridge drawers and two freezer drawers for 30 cubic feet of chilled area, to say nothing of the cockpit refrigeration.

I found terrific pullout pantry racks, big pot and appliance lockers, and storage right through the galley. The sink is oversized with a sprayer, water is all filtered, and cooking amenities include a recessed three-burner stove and convection microwave oven. Add a barbecue or one of those handy health grills in the cockpit and you’re done. Both rangehood and exhaust fan are provided, along with optional garbage disposal on the demo boat. A dishwasher is an option, as is a watermaker. The separate washer and dryer come standard.

FORTY WINKS AND SOME
There are two accommodation options in the forward cabin: a superior VIP guest layout with island berth or, as tested here, a practical offset double with single bunk to port. The latter still provides a comfortable sleeping arrangement for a couple, with the benefit of being able to sleep eight aboard if you include the saloon settee.

Even with the extra bed, the forward cabin packs in an abundance of storage space, with lockers, cupboards and drawers everywhere you turn. The second guest cabin to starboard had twin cross-over bunks that were adult-sized and more great storage.

The communal head that the guest cabins share has the separate washer and dryer, a huge shower stall, vacuflush head, groovy Grohe fittings, Corian counters and an extractor fan that I’m told really works post hot shower. There are no opening ports in the boat and the only apertures are escape hatches in the two main cabins.

Each cabin had light dimmers and controls for the piped sound system, plus there is ducted vacuum system and headroom in spades. Underfloor was a surprisingly big storage area with the shower sump pump and a manifold system so you can isolate the colour-coded plumbing lines if needed.

The master cabin amidships, away from the loud slap of water on the chines, pampers with its transverse island king bed concealing a cavernous storage area, full hanging lockers and substantial mirror-fronted wardrobe, separate television and quilted bedspread. The ensuite has a no-less-indulgent shower.

The boat’s interior reeks of grandeur without being glitzy. You just have to love it.

HEAVEN SENT
There are several ladder designs that lead to the flybridge and the model on this boat, the smallest and most vertical ladder, intruded least on the cockpit space. Perhaps it’s not so much a ladder for the family to run up and down as one where the skipper heads up for the day, shares the helm with crew and owner/anglers for the run to the grounds, and then has the driving station more or less to him or herself.

The twin Murray Brothers helm seats are just eye candy and tres comfortable, while the helm console was the antithesis of the drab unit I found on that first Viking tested more than a decade ago. Some $38,000 worth of electronics came with the boat including twin E120 Raymarine units and deep-water Furuno sounder. A second generator control panel was on the bridge – not a bad idea in case you want to fire-up the air-con outlet nearby. Though, really, this is a boat where the gennie runs dawn to dusk at least.

Guest seating includes a trick aft-facing jump seat for No.1 crew, who can launch down the ladder in a jiffy, and a starboard L-shaped lounge forward of the console for three people that would work as a daybed sans backrest. A more accommodating bed up top – and a tower – would be an option for captains concerned with stormy anchorages.

There’s an icebox with fridge in the bridge, storage for personals at the helm, breakers for the windlass, audio and visual engine-monitoring systems, fuel-monitoring system and transfer pump, night driving and navigating light, fire-suppression system, and more good gear. The electronic Cat panels reveal fuel consumption and the ZF gearboxes have preset, synch and reduction modes. The bowthruster will help hold you against the wind at the marina.

The clears are Strataglass with, according to the specs, the latest EZ2CY centre panel that buttons to the underside of the hardtop rather than scrolls up. Vision forward was greatly assisted by a neat cutout in the bridge brow – even though the helm was aft you could see the bow way up there, doing its stuff, cleaving the waves.

Those tunnels and reduced shaft angles, big underwater wheels and puissant Cat power, twin 1420hp aside, drove the 56 to real passage-eating speeds. The camera boat flat-out couldn’t keep up with the Viking’s mere cruise speed.

At just 1335rpm the 56 held plane at 16.4kt and at just 1600rpm made a good cruise of 22kt using 250lt/h in total. But shift the throttles to 1800rpm and the motors sounded more comfortable. We headed east at 26.5kt using 330lt/h in total.

However, it was at 2015rpm that I found optimum cruise of 30.5kt for 425lt/h. Thus, in less than an hour from most ports, you are over the shelf and sniffing the Canyons. The boat revelled in the going at 32kt at 2100rpm, which is about maximum continuous speed, using 455lt/h. Flat-out the big Viking hit 35.2kt. There are options of Man 1150hp V12 or MTU 1520hp engines.

Each Viking comes with custom schematic and diagrammatic manuals with photos of every key feature and fitting of the very boat you have bought.

For most people the $3-million-plus pricetag, fuel figures, maintenance and probably a skipper put this boat in a different league. But for owners with an appreciation for the best, this boat is in a rarefied league. It is the finest engineered fishing and long-range cruising production boat I have seen. And you don’t having to wait years, endure budget blowouts and unknown resale from a custom yard to get it. A boat for the connoisseur.

HIGHS

• Engineering marvel better than many custom boats
• Amazing seaworthiness and speed
• Smooth, silent, comfortable ride and capable of long-range cruising
• Incredibly manoeuvrable for a 56ft, 35t-plus laden ship
• Huge fuel, water and refrigeration to cater for odysseys
• Brilliant finish and attention to detail
• Respected badge with worldwide kudos

LOWS

• Could be considered over-engineered
• Bright white decks and bridge are harsh on sunglass-free eyes
• No incremental gauge on holding tank, only red light shows when full
• Steep ladder to flybridge, though options are available; short bowrail for looks
• Big-ticket boat with serious fuel bills
• No locking mechanism to hold the engine room door open

Boat Specifications: 56 Viking Convertible

VIKING 56 CONVERTIBLE

OPTIONS FITTED Package includes $38,000 of electronics and factory options from infloor livewell to décor package, hardtop and clears, rocket launcher and triple-bed VIP accommodation layout, plus outriggers

GENERAL

Material: GRP fibreglass with cored decks, superstructure and hull sides

Type: Hard chine planing hull with tunnels and underwater exhausts Length overall: 18.80m Hull length: 17.53m

Waterline length: 15.54m

Beam: 5.53m

Draft: 1.47m (max)

Deadrise: 15°

Weight: Approx 33,747kg (gross w/standard engine)

CAPACITIES

Berths: Seven + one

Fuel: 5681lt

Water: 908lt

ENGINE

Make/model: Caterpillar C30s

Type: V12 diesel electronic engine w/ twin turbocharging and aftercooling

Rated hp: 1420hp (1500bhp) @ 2300rpm

Displacement: 30lt

Weight: Approx 2547kg

Gearboxes (Make/ratio): ZF

Props: Veem or Michigan machined five-blade bronze props