Viking Yachts made more than a few anglers happy with its Viking 92 model, delivering 21 of those boats to new owners in a span of seven years. But then, a few years ago, eco-minded regulations came into play that would have required additional equipment on board—equipment that was problematic in so many ways that the builder decided to design a new model instead, one that was just a bit smaller to avoid the regulatory size cutoff. That new sport fishing model is the 90C, which premiered at the Miami International Boat Show in February 2023. As of early April 2023, 16 of the 90Cs had already been sold.

“We designed it right under 24 meters,” says Pat Healey, president and CEO of Viking Yachts. “We took 13 inches out of the beam, 27 inches out of the length, we got it under 24 meters, and we gained outstanding performance. The boat cruises at 32, 33 knots, tops out at 38 full of fuel. We see 40 knots every day with it—that’s a big increase in speed over the 92. The 92 is an awesome, incredible boat, but this boat, it’s seven years of building 92s—everything we learned from doing that, we took it and put it into this boat.”

The 90C’s features include a 203-gallon transom fish box/livewell, a pair of 103-gallon insulated in-deck fish boxes (with optional refrigeration), a Seakeeper 35, and a cockpit sole that’s reinforced for a fighting chair, rocket launcher or table. Inside are six staterooms and seven heads, along with a full-size stackable washer and dryer.

Hull No. 1 of the 90C is being used as a demo boat on the tournament circuit. It was headed to the Bahamas as this issue went to press, with Healey pleased about its performance: “It just does things like a 70- or 80-foot boat, but you have the accommodations of a 92.” 

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United Yacht Sales has listed the 1999 Cape Fear 47 Never Enough for sale. It’s the boat that was featured in season one of HBO’s series The Sopranos as Tony Soprano’s personal ride, The Stugots.

“We’re excited to bring a piece of television history to the yacht brokerage market,” United broker Paul Ouimette stated in a press release. “It’s not every day you get to say you’ve listed for sale Tony Soprano’s boat.”

The asking price for the custom sportfishing yacht is $299,000. It’s lying in Stamford, Connecticut.

“My client purchased this Cape Fear in 2016 mostly because he and his family love to fish,” Ouimette added. “Of course, there is a cool factor to having the boat that was in The Sopranos and makes for a great conversation piece. People want to experience a piece of television history.”

The yacht has twin 625-horsepower Detroit Diesel engines. The rebuilt port engine is showing 220 hours; the starboard engine has 2,200 hours on it.

Onboard equipment includes Garmin displays, open-array radar and SideScan sonar. For overnight fishing trips, there are two staterooms and two heads.

Did Tony Soprano own other boats throughout the series? Yes. He had three. In season two, what was supposed to be the same boat as season one was actually a 43-foot Egg Harbor. The Stugots II that came along later in the series was a 55-foot Ocean Yacht.

Take the next step: Contact Ouimette at unitedyacht.com

The post Tony Soprano’s Boat “The Stugots” is for Sale appeared first on Yachting.

Across its 54 feet length overall, the Hatteras 54 Convertible has three staterooms and two heads for overnight runs as a capable fishing machine. The build for bluewater duty includes a solid fiberglass hull bottom with Divinycell coring in the hull sides, deck and superstructure.

Twin 1,550 hp Caterpillar C30 diesels provide a 32-knot cruise speed. The 149-square-foot cockpit has a Release fighting chair for big-fish battles. As of July 2022, eight Hatteras 54 Convertibles were available, ranging from $749,000 to $879,000.  

From the Archive

“Everyone in our five-member crew found a place on the fully outfitted flybridge. Small touches such as drip moldings above all compartment doors keep interior spaces dry. Rod stowage is plentiful under the two settees. An optional electronics console drops from sight with the touch of a button. The electronic Caterpillar engine displays are on the tournament helm.”

—Yachting, October 2007

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The Invincible 33 Catamaran is a fishing-specific boat with semi-asymmetric hulls for 360 degrees’ worth of casting possibilities. The hulls are by Morrelli & Melvin, a California design firm long known for its high-performance sailing catamarans. Each boat is built from fiberglass and vinylester resin via a vacuum-bagged construction process. Owners can select from four twin-outboard power options with a total 600 to 900 hp (the most powerful setup employs Mercury Racing 450Rs), as well as options such as livewells, rod holders, racks and electric-reel outlets. Additional upgrades include hardtops, a folding tower, outriggers, windshield wings and custom seating.  

Whom It’s For: The Invincible 33 Catamaran is for serious anglers who want a strong, slippery hull form and a menu-style options list.  

Picture This: It’s early April, and you and your buddies are in Key West, Florida, gearing up for a weekend of kite-fishing and deep-dropping. It’s windy. Other boats are staying ashore, but the Invincible 33 Catamaran demonstrates why two hulls can be better than one in lumpy seas.  

Take the next step: invincibleboats.com

The post Invincible’s Midsize Fishing Cat appeared first on Yachting.

Boston Whaler’s 350 Realm can be set up for angling adventures, dayboating and/or weekend getaways. The 350 Realm can accommodate six guests without overtaking the space in the cockpit, which can be outfitted with a livewell or a grill and sink. 

There’s a foredeck lounge with wraparound seating; belowdecks is a V-shaped sofa that converts to a double berth. Triple 300, 350 or 400 hp Verado outboards are available. Top hop for the 350 Realm is 46 knots. 

At press time, a dozen 350 Realms were on the market, ranging from $559,000 to $750,000.

From the Archive

“The 350 Realm melds the workmanlike qualities of a center-console with the luxuries expected on today’s cabin craft. For sure, the 350 Realm is more than a one-activity center-console for the family. It’s also set up for entertaining, fishing, overnight cruising and diving. With a rakish windshield and fiberglass hardtop with finlike steps, the 350 Realm has Whaler’s trademark profile.”

— Yachting, April 2018

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When Bob Healey Jr. thinks about his father’s life and all the man accomplished, he can’t shake one story in particular. It’s a tale that his father, Bob Healey Sr., told him about the company he had co-founded, Viking Yachts, and about what happened to some of the most successful boatbuilders, including Viking, after the federal government created a 10 percent luxury tax in 1991 that crushed businesses nationwide.

“He told me a story once of a woman who cleaned the office,” Healey Jr. recalled from near Viking’s headquarters in New Jersey this past December, just after his father’s death. “She had been there for 15 years—for a long time. They used to put a list up in the office of people who were going on furlough, on the Friday. My father was leaving one night very late, and as he walked out, she said: ‘Mr. Healey, will I have a job on Monday? I see what’s happening, and I have young children, and I’m really concerned.’ And he told her that he would do everything in his power to make sure it didn’t happen—and it was one of his greatest regrets, he always told me, that the woman got furloughed. The people who built the boats ended up cleaning the hallways because he needed to keep them to get the boats out.”

Healey Sr. and his brother Bill had co-founded Viking Yachts in 1964, and it took everything they had to keep the yard going during and immediately after that time. Healey Sr. took money out of his own pocket—mortgaging a family farm that he owned outright—to tool up new models, and he tirelessly lobbied lawmakers anywhere that he could get a meeting with them until the luxury tax was repealed 20 long months later, in 1993. By then, Viking’s staff had been slashed from 1,500 to 65 souls.

“Literally, the morning the tax got repealed, he called personnel director Drew Davala and said: ‘Give me the names of 10 people we can bring back on Monday. I’m coming back from D.C.,’” Healey Jr. says. “I saw him sacrifice his own well-being for others. It really drove home for me just how important the people who work with us are.”

Healey Sr.’s lobbying on behalf of the entire marine industry and boaters alike was relentless—a boat on a barge was even set on fire in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay as a symbol of protest. Healey Jr. was still in grade school back then, but he recalls it being one of the first times in his life that he truly understood the depth of his father’s passion for the company he’d helped to build. Healey Sr. felt personally responsible for the employees who worked at Viking, just as he felt an obligation to do charitable work for people who needed help all throughout his life. He understood what it meant to be of service to others.

“He had traveled a lot for work, but this was different. He wasn’t coming home at night. He was in D.C. meeting with whoever he could,” Healey Jr. says. “My father’s legacy is not on the side of a Viking, and it’s not on a plaque in a school in an inner city, and it’s not on this farm where we do work with a lot of at-risk youth. His legacy is in the people that he touched and the ripple effect that he had on other people. He had this ability to find potential in people, and he had this force of will. I think that’s what people saw during the luxury tax. He could put pressure on people like squeezing a diamond out of coal.”  

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You’ll never forget your first ride on an Invincible 42 Open Fisherman. I sure haven’t. After testing Garmin’s Fantom radar recently on the 42 Open off Miami, we turned to head in, and that’s when our crew’s collective jaws hit the floor. The 42’s triple Yamaha F350s roared to life, and this boat jumped from 26 to 43-plus knots in seconds. The Michael Peters-designed, Stepped-Vee Ventilated Tunnel hull (with 22 degrees of transom deadrise) made quick work of the 2-foot chop. Andrew Cox, editor-in-chief of our sister magazine, Marlin, turned to me with a grin and yelled, “We’d be in Bimini in an hour!”

WHOM IT’S FOR: Anyone looking for performance and style. This center console has a 600-gallon fuel capacity and 170 gallons of in-sole livewells — and, of course, stiletto-sharp lines. Add the optional dive door and dive ladder, and you’re ready for a day of snorkeling or spearfishing. With the triple 350 hp Yamahas, she’ll run you about $470,000.

 PICTURE THIS: Your motoryacht’s docked in Bimini, and your family is late leaving for dinner in Nassau, more than 130 miles away. But you’re not worried. That’s about a three-hour cruise with your 42 Open zipping along in the 35-knot range, hitting top speeds in excess of 56 knots when seas permit it. With this tender, you’ll never be late again.

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Yachting Developments in New Zealand is working toward a 2017 delivery for this 127-foot Michael Peters design, expected to set a world record the minute she splashes. Both the shipyard and the designer are confident she will be the biggest sport-fish yacht ever built entirely of carbon. She’s also going to be the biggest Peters design ever constructed, anywhere.

“We’re taking the building of a carbon structure to a new level in the sport-fishing field,” says Ian Cook, managing director at Yachting Developments.

Yachting Developments specializes in carbon-fiber construction, which it has used extensively on sailing yachts built to race and cruise. The same proprietary technology is being used on this sport-fish, which is for an owner who previously commissioned Peters to design the 86-foot sport-fish yacht Lanakai II.

The owner began the new project with designer Douglas Sharp, then asked Peters to come aboard because of their longtime relationship from the earlier build.

“The guy’s previous boat was well-used,” Peters says. “He is a true offshore sportsman. That boat went on many long-range trips with deep-sea fishing and diving. He’s a guy who knows what he wants in his boat.”

That includes twin 3,140 hp MTU engines, which Peters says are “the size of a room on a 127-foot boat.” They will produce a 27- or 28-knot top end with a 22- to 24-knot cruise speed.

More important, Peters says, is that the power plants will have the muscle to push all the weight from features the owner keeps adding. “He wants a fast boat, he wants long range and he wants everything he can think of — and I mean anything you can put on the boat, he’s going to put on the boat,” Peters says. “As he builds the boat, everything he’s choosing, the weight begins to pile on. So we’re happy he went with the bigger engines because they can power all of that.”

Cook says weight savings is also a key reason to choose all-carbon construction. It leaves more pounds available for the owner to pack on elsewhere.

“This is a trend that we’ve seen in all boats,” Peters says. “I don’t care if it’s 40 feet or 400 feet. A lot of things are no longer options. People with 40-foot boats want a gyrostabilizer now. They add a tremendous amount of weight. When you use lightweight construction, you’re really adding room for these kinds of things.”

The post A True Big-Fish Story appeared first on Yachting.

Boat tests usually involve a squeaky-clean boat just out of the factory with low engine hours. This wasn’t one of those sea trials. T.J. O’Shea, a charter captain in Clearwater, Florida, took delivery of his Southport 33 Family Edition last August. By the time I climbed aboard three months later, the twin four-stroke Yamaha 350s had more than 500 hours on them. “A lot of those hours were hard,” says O’Shea, who spends most days offshore fishing or diving. When he’s not chartering, the captain uses the boat with his family. The 33 FE is O’Shea’s second Southport, the first being a 29-footer that remains in his fleet with more than 6,000 hours on it.

My test 33 FE’s C. Raymond Hunt-designed hull had a few scuffs, but it looked remarkably clean after spending so much time in the Gulf of Mexico. Started in North Carolina in 2003, Southport has always built handsome, rugged boats with a noticeable Carolina flare and eye-catching transom tumblehome.

The brand moved north to Maine in 2011 after being acquired by Kenway Corp., the former builder of Maritime Skiff. Rather than turning Southport into a Downeast brand, Kenway kept the original Carolina styling and commissioned Hunt to design a 33-footer. Kenway also improved the build quality, using vacuum-infusion for weight savings instead of a hand layup, for example. It also upgraded the plumbing and wiring.

The secret to any Hunt design is the hull form. As we found out in the Gulf, the 33 FE’s continuously variable-deadrise hull is a performer in a chop. O’Shea says he has been offshore in gnarly 6-footers without issue. On our test, the 33 FE was a champ in the Gulf’s confused 2-footers.

Southport was one of the first builders to incorporate the Hunt 4 Hull, which was designed to accommodate the new generation of big four-stroke outboards. Rather than be a rocket ship, the boat was meant to run safely in myriad sea conditions. She was on plane in four seconds, with little bow rise. This center console turned tightly with minimal cavitation too. When she sat beam-to the waves, rolling was minimal.

This boat was equipped as a serious fishing machine, with two 6-foot-long, 75-gallon insulated fish boxes in the cockpit, rocket launchers and stowage lockers for 7-foot fishing rods. O’Shea opted for a cockpit freezer rather than the grill and fridge that make up the optional “entertainment center.”

My test 33 FE’s 350 hp Yamahas were the maximum rated power for this boat and pushed her to a top end just shy of 48 knots with five people on board. The captain said the standard 300 hp Yamahas (with a published top speed of 43.5 knots) would’ve been enough if he didn’t carry so much dive equipment. The 33 FE’s helm, with stitched helm/bolster seats and two 19-inch displays, were optimal for the beamy 10-foot-8-inch center console.

Two features distinguish the 33 FE from the TE, or Tournament Edition. The cabin, accessed through a real door rather than a big side hatch, has a head with toilet, shower, sink and berth in the forward crawl space. The forward cockpit also has a U-shaped lounge with an adjustable-height table that works manually with gas-lift assists. (An electric option is available.) The table can be used for family dining, or convert it into a sun lounge or casting platform.

Throw in the high gunwales, wide passages and open layout, and the Southport 33 FE distinguishes herself as a family-friendly cruiser with just the right amount of fishy touches.

Siblings: The Center Console Family

The post Real-World Cruising appeared first on Yachting.

Pedigreed

I first saw the photograph as a kid while snooping around a neighbor’s workshop hard by Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. A classic Orvis fly rod was too pretty not to handle — I picked it up and started a chain reaction that would make Rube Goldberg proud. When the dust settled, amid the scattered fishing gear was the January 1970 issue of Yachting. Its cover model was blasting through the sea on her milky-white hull. Marine photographer Peter Barlow had captured the Hatteras 50 in her element, running hard and fast. I was awestruck.

About 12 years before Barlow had snapped the shutter, a nor’easter had grounded Willis Slane and his fishing buddies yet again in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Looking at the storm blowing stink off Diamond Shoals, Slane reportedly told his cronies, “One day, somebody will make a boat that can handle these types of conditions, and we’ll be able to fish instead of having to sit here and play cards.”

The men carefully folded their cards on the table and looked at Slane expectantly.

Aw hell, he must have thought, catching the unmistakable expressions on their faces. I’ll do it.

Slane enlisted a relatively new yacht designer, Jack Hargrave, to draw the first vessel. Now a storied name in boat design, Hargrave had just graduated from Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology and was designing sport-fishing vessels for the Rybovich yard. Hargrave took elements of Rybovich design — a large cockpit, flybridge and raised foredeck for larger belowdecks accommodations — and incorporated them on the first Hatteras, the 41-foot, all-fiberglass Knit Wits. The response established Hatteras Yachts as a noted builder of fiberglass convertibles. A battlewagon legacy was born.

The people behind such iconic vessels are as exemplary as the yachts. Hatteras was fortunate to have Slane and Hargrave at the helm when the brand launched in 1959; both were later essential to the company’s growth. Today, the Hatteras staff includes master craftsmen with 30 or more years of tenure, and a few have been with Hatteras for more than 45 years. “The tremendous knowledge and skill set is unmatched [in the industry],” says Jonathan Ward, president of Hatteras. “The single thing that defines the brand is our employees.”

Next to Hargrave, Bruce Angel’s time at Hatteras is just as impactful. In 1976, his shop was next door to Hatteras Yachts’ original facility in High Point, North Carolina (the company built its plant in New Bern in 1967, running both for a while). Intrigued by a 53-foot convertible, Angel wandered over. Hatteras hired him as a mechanical engineer, and he “was bitten by the bug very early.” Working with Hargrave, he began to learn about naval architecture, eventually earning a degree. He’s currently executive vice president of product development and engineering at Hatteras.

For many years, Hargrave created all of the vessels — drafting variable-deadrise hulls with a sharp entry that became known for their seakeeping abilities — while Angel assisted and thought about other ways to improve the ride.

“One of the major innovations was in the propulsion,” he says. “I was looking more at the science of propeller design and began to get interested in reduction gears. They [both] seemed too conveniently simple.”

With the advent of the modern diesel engine, the boats got bigger and heavier — and noisier. To reduce noise and increase performance, Angel cited an obscure source for inspiration: a 1955 paper written by two professors who had dismantled a World War II-era German cavitation tunnel. Through tank testing, real-world applications and a close relationship with Rolla propellers — “tell me what you need” was Rolla’s credo, Angel says — Hatteras began to order props with five to eight blades each. Combined with deeper gear ratios custom cut by ZF, the result was “a quantum leap in terms of technology [with] a 2-knot increase in top speed,” he says, and a significant reduction in vibration. By the early 1990s, Hatteras was employing these props on all of its vessels. A few years later, multiblade props and deep gear ratios had become the norm on battlewagons.

All Hatteras models are tank tested, but it’s often the homespun techniques that drive improvement. Angel says a cracked housing during a test with a simple air pump led to the builder’s patented hull- tunnel air-induction system. It creates a blanket of air between the prop and the hull bottom, and the blade’s shock wave collides with it. Less cavitation equals reduced vibration and noise, and increased performance. The feature is found on every Hatteras Yachts’ sport-fish model today.

Angel says that in addition to Hargrave, renowned naval architect Donald L. Blount was a mentor and visited annually. “We really thought we had something [with the tunnel air-induction system], and Donald didn’t say anything about it,” Angel recalls. “I was disappointed.” Blount later said he was blown away by the design because something similar was used on the U.S. Navy’s high-speed cruisers and nuclear-sub fleet. Later, Hatteras fielded calls from Annapolis when the military had issues with its patrol boats.

Hatterascal

There’s no greater sales tool than getting potential customers out on the water for a day of running down big fish. Hatterascal is the demo vessel that “gets them into the Hatteras brand,” says Jeff Donahue, Hatteras Yachts director of product improvement and Hatterascal captain. Donahue says the day of fishing benefits the builder as well; input from serious customers helps to refine the GT Series. “It’s a great learning tool,” he says. “We learn what we need to improve upon and what we may need to change.” The current Hatterascal is a GT70 fitted with every conceivable option, including 2,600 hp MTU diesels. She’s also the Hatteras factory fishing team vessel. This summer, she’ll hit several tournaments along the East Coast and the Bahamas. Stop by and say hi on the docks — she’ll be hard to catch on the water.

Such innovative thinking helped to evolve the Hatteras brand and its reputation, but the company’s core values remain the same today as they were in 1959. Ward says: “The brand hasn’t changed what it’s stood for. Quality, safety and durability never go out of style.” Ward has 25 years in the marine industry and has been with Hatteras since 2011. “Not a lot of brands have stood the test of time,” he says. “There are a couple of iconic brands that have been there decade in and decade out, and Hatteras is one of them.”

The builder faces new challenges today: hiring employees to replace the veteran boatbuilders, and having those masters impart their knowledge. Hatteras has proven that it’s able to adapt, and the product line continues to innovate [see “Big and Fast” sidebar]. Now a semicustom builder, Hatteras Yachts is poised to compete with custom builders and production yards by doing the same thing it’s always done: building the best possible vessels through innovation and hands-on craftsmanship.

Big and Fast: Carolina’s Gran Turismos

The convertible sport-fish customer has a need for speed. Simply put: You must be in the 40-knot range to compete with the custom-built pelagic pugilists. Hatteras Yachts answered with its GT Series. Ranging from 54 to 70 feet, the GT line is designed to run at 40-knot speeds with a mid-30-knot cruise. The GTs are the builder’s first totally resin-infused hulls, which saves weight, although the boats retain a sturdy, solid-fiberglass hull bottom common to all Hatteras models. Inspired by her home state — with Carolina bow flare, handsome tumblehome and a pod-style helm on her flybridge — the Hatteras GT is at once sleek and imposing. The modified-V hull form and sharp entry ensure plenty of giddyap from the hole; lifting strakes and double chines promise a dry ride. Prop tunnels help create lift while backing down on big fish, keeping the cockpit dry. The GTs also have PipeWelders tuna towers, carbon fiber hardtops (on the convertibles), mezzanine decks and commodious cockpits ready for big-fish battles.

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