Stealthy Stunner
The Viking 93 Motor Yacht is packed with surprises.
TThey were called Q-ships during World War I: ships that seemed innocent enough until an enemy drew within range. Then the Q-ship sprouted weapons.
I thought of them when I saw the Viking 93 Motor Yacht, which conceals the heart of a sportfishing war wagon within luxurious appointments.
Viking CEO Pat Healey dedicated more than two years to creating the 93 Motor Yacht. It represents a return of sorts to motoryachts for the company, which stopped building them when the economy slumped, concentrating instead on sportfishing yachts. Viking launched new motoryacht models a couple of years ago, with a 75 and 85, and the 93 is now the flagship of the motoryacht line.
She is big in every way: a 24-foot, 4-inch beam (2 feet wider than some competitors’), a thunderous 3,890 horses in the engine room, a seakindly Michael Peters hull and a transatlantic 4,100-nautical-mile range with optional fuel tanks.
A sky lounge is standard with a day head, an aft window that disappears to create an alfresco bar area, and twin sets of stairs: one to the aft deck and another to the salon. The yacht’s wide beam allows for five staterooms and seven heads, with the master spanning the full beam amidships.
“People like big, and that’s what we’re giving them,” Healey says.
There are three dining tables plus a galley dinette, 14 barstools at three bars, and 12 TVs. The crew quarters are finished like guest areas with two cabins, a head with stall shower, and a mess with galley and dinette.
The yacht’s main galley is forward under the windshield, with a center island, a 7-foot (2.1-meter) Sub-Zero fridge, and a day head. Caesarstone counters and an Avalon sole are designed for easy cleaning and good looks.
The master stateroom has a private entry and a walk-in closet, along with an oversized table under a tear-shaped window for morning croissants or a game of canasta. The VIP stateroom with island queen berth is forward, with an underwater scene by Florida-based artist Christopher Channell in etched glass above the headboard. As with the master’s, the VIP’s berth hinges up to reveal stowage for items such as suitcases.
Two guest staterooms aft can be configured to an owner’s needs (this 93 had a double-berth stateroom to port and one with twin berths to starboard). The fifth stateroom is off the central companionway and can be fitted with bunks for the kids or outfitted as an owner’s office.
The interior on this 93, by WBC Design, was a warm, glossy walnut. Teak and other woods are an option. The yacht had an optional hydraulic sliding
door to starboard in the salon, where the bulkhead folds outward to become a terrace with room for a pair of chairs. Cutaway coaming to port gives seated guests inside full visibility through the salon’s windows.
Power for the Viking 93 is a pair of MTU Series 2000 V-12s putting out 1,945 horsepower each. In the engine room, crew can walk entirely around each engine, in part because Viking created an exhaust manifold that arches over the outboard walkways.
This 93MY had upgraded 55 kW Cummins Onan gensets and a Seakeeper 35 gyrostabilizer. The piping, plumbing and electrical components were a textbook example of seamanlike installation, from tidy labels to neat wire looms. A toolbox and workbench are next to the door to the crew quarters, and this yacht had both AC power management and an ASEA converter.
Since Viking recently launched the largest resininfused sportfishing boat in the world at 92 feet (28 meters), the yard drew on that knowledge to bond conventional fiberglass and carbon fiber fabrics with end-grain balsa coring on the 93. The builder also added twin foldout docking stations in the cockpit,
with bow and stern thrusters as well as shifters.
Underway, the yacht topped out at more than 27 knots and carved turns like a waterski boat. The hull slid through waves without fuss, throwing spray aside like, well, a Viking sportfisher.
If you really want to wet a fishing line, there may be a 93 Motor Yacht with a cockpit on the drawing boards. For now, she may not be a Q-ship, but she’ll surprise you when you get close.