Problems with Viking Yachts

[Passages]

OK, this thread may be a little odd for a Hatteras Forum, but I figure after 800 posts you guys will cut me some slack.

I'll be looking at and early 80's 46' Viking soon. I heard they sometimes have issues with stringer rot and loose engine mounts.

Has anyone here seen the problem first hand? Can you give hints as to what to look for during my walk through?

Thanks,

ps: I'll be looking at a 50 Hatt too but that will be for another thread.

[MikeP]

Pascoe seems to like 'em though this a different and maybe a later model:

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/boatreviews/Viking43open.htm

[nor'easter]

A former dockmate lives aboard a 41C Viking from the 80s...I think early based on the look/styling. He tells a tale of being struck by a whale in the Sea of Cortez while cruising years ago. The first almost rolled her, and the second was aft and stuffed the bow into the water briefly. The second hit trashed his running gear but caused no hull damage. He stills lives aboard and swears by the build quality of his boat.
FWIW

[Pete]

The concern I have heard is cored hull side water intrusion. Have not owned one and do not have a boat with the problem to point at. I suggest you check it out, if for no other reason than to verify there is no problem.

A month ago I saw a 44 double cabin that had mangled the starboard side running gear. The shaft had to be cut in two places to get it out of the struts. The fiberglass bottom appeared to be undamaged. Impressive.

Pete

[Red Hatt]

Look for bulkhead rot in the engine room for and aft. the they also have a problm with rot in the haul sides . In my opnion they are no better than an Ocean Yacht but just a bigger price tag.

[Genesis]

The engine bed system Viking uses is unique but is subject to trouble where it attaches to the hull structure. A VERY CAREFUL inspection is necessary at those points.

Beyond that, the stringers are not the "hollow top hat" style that Hatteras uses. I prefer the Hatteras design as it basically never gives trouble. This is an area that you need to pay VERY CLOSE attention to; if there are holes where they don't belong your ears have to perk up bigtime. Stringer problems in boats of this size frequently are beyond economic repair. Ditto if you have hullSIDE core issues; I've yet to see that on a Viking - or a Hatt - unless, once again, someone drilled holes where they don't belong.

Sadly, people DO commit such sins from time to time.

The usual suspects (rotted bulkheads, etc) that can be a problem with a boat of this vintage no matter who made it obviously needs to be looked at as well, but that is by no means unique to Viking. All boats have potential issues like this - just ask me about anchor pulpit areas on some Hatts - including MINE which I ended up fixing!

My biggest issue with the Vikings I've looked at has been service access. Make sure you can live with it. I considered several models before buying Gigabite and in the end we never got to survey on any of them. There was one 45C that I liked but we were too far apart on our view of price for me to get serious about it.

[Passages]

Thanks Guys,

FYI this is the one I'll be looking at:

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...04&searchtype=

Not wild about the black hull but figure it's worth a look.

[MikeP]

I know this will sound like rain on your parade but since you are already admittedly "Not wild" about the black hull, I think you should SERIOUSLY keep that issue in mind when you look. There is a lot of additional maintenance and other issues with dark colored hulls/superstructure.

One of the typical problems is the fact that the resin under the dark color will shrink more due to the much higher temperature which will eventually result in the roving pattern being visible. I have seen several MYs that have black/dark blue sides and all of them have the roving pattern visible under the dark paint.

And, just as in a car, black shows every blemish, every bit of dirt, etc.

That's not to suggest that you shouldn't buy the boat if everything else meets with your approval. The black can always be white at the next repaint!

[nor'easter]

It is a sharp looking boat, and in general I think the dark hulls look nice. I agree with Mike, I don't think I would want to own and maintain it.
I have seen roving show through on some new boats, Mikelsons in particular in the dark feature stripe on the superstructure. I haven't seen it on an older, likely better finished boat, that had been repainted a dark color. The interior looks good, and if you could live with it until it had to dealt with a repaint would only involve the hull and be generally less hassle/money than if the house needed to be painted too.

[Pascal]

dark hulls look nice but in addition to the extra work to keep them looking nice... forget about having a dark hull and keeping the interior cool !!!

even 2 hours after sunset, the 10" black stripe on my hull remains significnatly warmer than the rest of the hull... and radiates heat inside. a good thing up north in winter... not anywhere else.