Bruce Springsteen made a whole career singing about down-and-out, blue-collar guys scraping to get by down at the Jersey Shore. Rest assured none of those characters could afford the Viking 92 Convertible, which is debuting at this year’s Ft. Lauderdale boat show in October. The 93-foot-long 92 (not a typo) is the largest fishing boat ever launched by Viking Yachts, the New Jersey-based company that builds its boats just up the current from Atlantic City. These days Viking more or less has the market cornered when it comes to semi-custom sportfishing boats—and for good reason.
The company made its name building fast boats that could get anglers out to the fishing grounds first and back to the tournament scales quickly, the logic being the faster the boat, the more time spent actually fishing. Let the Bertrams of the world build aquatic tanks, Vikings were designed to fly. And fly they did. Most Viking builds can top the magic 40 mph number at full tilt and though the 92, at 195,000 pounds, may not quite hit that number, she should be damn close, particularly if she’s outfitted with downright beastly MTU engines totaling 2,635 horsepower. Rest assured, with the hammer down, this will be a lot of boat, moving very fast.
Photo Courtesy of Viking Yacht Company
As for the fisherman onboard, they’ll be sitting pretty in the boat’s aft deck where the fishing action will take place. This cockpit area will be absolutely enormous, using up nearly all of the boat’s 23-foot beam. It will have two mezzanine decks forward that are essentially designed so your bikini-clad mates can lounge around and watch you haul in billfish. Inside those decks will be enough storage to house a virtual treasure trove of fishing gear, cold beers, dead bodies, you name it.
Indoors, the 92 will have six different staterooms all kitted out to the max and bigger than a lot of New York City hotel rooms. In particular, the master stateroom on this boat should be an automatic deal sealer. Viking hasn’t released deck plans yet, but judging from past models, odds are it will be amidships, and, just like the cockpit, utilize the boat’s full beam. That should provide room for a big-screen TV, an en suite head, and a truly massive bed. That’s all yours if you can pony up the scratch to pay the high-seven-figure price tag this boat is sure to command.
Photo Courtesy of Viking Yacht Company
Like we said, this ain’t no blue-collar battlewagon. This is a fishing machine with both the luxury and the length to make the mogul docked in the slip next to you green with envy.
Photos by Viking Yacht Company