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Hatteras vs Viking Yachts

Discussion in 'Hatteras Yacht' started by Captain Dufy, Nov 8, 2015.

  1. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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    Last November I posted a thread on Searay 47/52 sedan bridges and Carvers of the same length. I got some very interesting information. Finally I bought a Searay 47 bridge. The wife ,the german sherpard and I navigated for more than 2000 miles this summer going through the Trent Severn waterways to the Geogian Bay and back by the 3 Great Lakes. If anybody had doubts about this boat rest well assured. She carried well in 4 to 5 foot waves and nobody was sick!! Now l am preparing for my next boat which is going to be a live aboard. I have 2 or 3 years to make a choice. I have reading all threads about Hatteras and Viking boats. YachtForums is definitely the most comprehensive on information on Hatteras. But nothing much on Viking. Is there any thread I should be looking at that would give more info on year 2000 and up for Viking yatchs 54' and up?

    For Hatteras I am looking at 56 and up but need a galley up . It seems DC diesels are fairly expensive to upkeep and usually last about 2000 hours before major overhaul costing about 3 grand a hole. l have been asking around and different people have suggested new motors by Cummins or Caterpillar would increase speed and value as well as decrease fuel cost and general maintenance. But when I reviewed Viking boats,they seemed to have Man diesels that are very popular these days with many manufacturers. Searay is also a great boat. But the 58 has a dismal engine room and turned me off as I like to check my motors and other components regularly. Last but not the least, we stayed on the 47 Bridge for 32 consecutive days and really loved it !! What a smooth boat. I learned after buying her that the hull had been around for more than 10 years (48 Sundancer, 47 Bridge and the new 51 Sundancer all have the same hull specs) . By the way, she took a pounding coming across Lake Erie and stood her ground.. if we can use such an expression for a boat!! Thanks in advance for your answers on my many questions.
  2. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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    Also, I forgot.The budget is somewhere in the 500 to 650 thousand. Year is not an issue. But cost of overhaul and 12, 24 and 240 volts and fairly new electronics must be included. Thanks again.
  3. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    What are you looking for it to do that your Sea Ray doesn't or didn't? Do you still have the Sea Ray?

    Are you a sportfisher? Or are you looking for a MY design? Vikings are generally going to be SF or Convertibles, unless you're talking Princess with Viking names on them and that's entirely different.
  4. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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    Nice to hear from you again. Yes, still have the Searay and will be doing the US eastern coast next summer. I am looking for aMY design since the next boat is going to be a living aboard.So an investment for many years hopefully.
  5. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Viking didn't have a motoryacht in that time period. They were marketing Princesses as Viking Sport Cruisers. They're on the small side for their length. The 61' was a good riding boat but a bit on the small side and engine room near impossible. The Man's from that era vibrated a lot at slow speeds and smokey.

    The 63' Hatteras in that era was a good boat with more room. It morphed into the newer 64' with a lot more fuel, HP, and different interior layout. These can be had with CAT c-18's or even C-30's.
  6. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Some Viking Princesses we used to work on had the older MAN V-12 mechanical injected engines.
    I rather enjoyed working on them. luckily nothing deep or heavy.
    It was a long and tight project replacing the A/C raw water pump between the MANs down low in the center line.
    The sliding door rails were impossible to keep working correctly. The electric fold back top was cool and worked well. Pretty but not live-a-board.

    Now, Find an old / big Viking motor yacht with 12v71s. That's life on-board.
  7. Caltexflanc

    Caltexflanc Senior Member

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    We cruised and lived aboard the Hatteras 56my in my avatar, as our sole residence, for 6 years. It was extremely comfortable. You are mistaken about the Detroit motors, that's way over generalized folklore on longevity.

    Buy a well cared for American built Hatt, with their great engine room and systems layouts, excellent support network made up of the factory itself, the spin off of its parts department, Sam's Marine.

    For full time living, we found having the large open but enclosable aft deck to be very valuable and my wife's favorite room on the boat; indeed by far the most used room on the boat during waking hours . It also afforded a means of us each having some "space". For a couple of average abilities, we also found great value in the walk around decks for a variety of reasons and port and starboard doors to either side of the lower helm. And remember, the bigger you get, the more it limits you on finding slips and moorings, we found being right at 60' LOA was a benefit, though at some marinas the 18'2" beam was a limitation.
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 9, 2015
  8. Bahma

    Bahma Member

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    ^%ft Hatterass LRC.....long range crusier.....would be an excellent choice.......flush decked with small cockpit, a fly bridge with room for an informal dance and a large full headroom walk around engine room gives more than enough rom fir all mechanical accessories... two generators.......4 air conditioners, water maker etc, including twin naturally aspirated GM 671s.

    obviously not fast but has a long range through any weather.

    Well worth serious consideration,
  9. btyson

    btyson Member

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    Captain Duffy,
    I have been researching boats of that size 45-50'. Ive had experence with a 40 Sea Ray decades ago on an inland lake and was happy. That said, we are now moving to Florida and while I like the layout of the Sundancers I seem to read more on their "issues" regarding ride and build quality. I'm glad to see you have had a good experience with yours. What year was it?
  10. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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  11. g collis

    g collis Member

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    There are a lot of Hatters MY's on the market that are in your price range. AND there are some with a real engine room. I never cared much for Hatts individual engine room concept. All Hatts have fiberglass fuel, water and holding tanks, are a proven design and many on the market have had exceptional care. As for motors, IMO, you can't beat a pair of 12v71 DD's. No computers, no fuel injection pump, parts comparatively inexpensive and they can be worked on anywhere in the world. Again, IMO, stay away from Manns. Great motors till it comes service or repair time. Then $$$$$$$$$. CAT C-18's are wonderful as are their C-32's. In fact most CATs are great. But, most older Hatts came with DD's and I love em, especially the 71 series.
  12. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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    Thanks for the response. How do12v71 compare to 8v91 or 12v 91 for power and reliablity
  13. g collis

    g collis Member

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    You mean 8-92 or 12-92. No such thing as a 91 series. You will get a million opinions on 92's. Mostly bad opinions. Often have been supped up by the marinizer, run hard and put up wet. They require a bit more care, burn more fuel because of the larger displacement, have wet liners and so on. But, if you can find a pair with low hours, fresh rebuilds or exceptional maintenance records, IMO it's a good motor. My pal R Crapps is the expert. He will likely weigh in on this. But as mentioned earlier, try and go with a 71 series motor. All this being said, I am in the process of buying a boat with 12v92s. Even I am shaking my head. LOL
    Westielover likes this.
  14. Captain Dufy

    Captain Dufy Member

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    Thanks
  15. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    12v71's are twice the motors the 8v92's or 12v92's are. Basically the 92 series was designed to make as much power as possible, and to be rebuilt often........longevity was not a consideration and they were origionally designed for military applications. There are so many reasons why their lifespan is half of the 12v71's........ wet liners, oversized injectors, oversized turbo's etc. From what I've seen they make great power the first, origional 200-500 hours, then the 12v92 doesn't seem to make anymore power than a 12v71, even after rebuilds. I managed a 63' Ocean that the owner owned for over 20 years, from a year old till about 2009. It origionally cruised at 30 knots, after a year would only cruise 27 knots......2 years later only 24 knots from then on out, he ran them 1900/1950 rpms and got 6500 hours out of them overpropped and towing a 35' Marlago half of the time, and at 950F EGTs. He rebuilt the motors, turbo's and everything, and he still had to cut the props 3" of pitch to get them to make WOT rpm's. It's the only sportfish I've seen with 12v92's go over 2500 hours. I ran a really clean 54' Hatteras SF with DDEC 12v92's and it had reciepts they were majored at 930 hours by the dealer.......then on seatrial/survey at 1952 hours it blew the port engine.....I guess they're consistent.


    With 12v92s and 16v92s with 2 engine blocks that are pinned and then bolted together. Run them 1800-1850 rpms in a slow boat that cruise speed keeps bouncing/swinging 2-3 knots all day long and the blocks don't maintain the right geometry. The changing load factors kill them as the 2 blocks bolted to each other have 1 crankshaft and keep twisting against each other and have changing geometry. I ran and managed a 58' Striker for a few years...... from 1991-2004 it had 8 sets of majors, they never went more than 1000 hours......why......at cruise the cruise speed would swing from 17-21 knots all day long. Running them slow slow.......also washes liners.......They do seem to last in boats where they cruise at 25 knots or more where they have a nice even cruise speed and constant load factors.

    I just ran a set of 16v92's non DDECs, the only ones I've seen. I put 50 hours on them in the past week. I have no idea how many hours they even have....... trolling all day they actually run really clean......at cruise really clean......however the owners tell me to never run them over 1700 rpms......at that speed the boat does 17-19 knots.....and they just sound like they're laboring a bit and EGT's never get over 600F. I really don't think that's doing them any favors. They're in a boat that had 12v92's installed in every other one of them.......the 12v92's are a better fit, if you're going to run them this way and drag all that weight around....... at 1700, they're burning 130GPH and doing 17-19 knots........
  16. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    If you remember our friend BamBoo, he was on top of his ship and kept his Donzi's 12v92s clean & sweet.
    Up & Down the east coast and then more. I understood very good luck on that ship but it took a good throttle hand and above proper maintenance.
  17. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I assume there are 92s out there with good service results, but the 71 is certainly more forgiving, solid and without two many special needs.

    However, As I type this, I'm waiting on my heavy crew to arrive and pull a 12V71TA head.
    The all common (53,71,92) injector tube has cracked in our customers ole Hatteras.
  18. PacBlue

    PacBlue Senior Member

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    Briefly, the military market was not the main reason for the introduction of the Series 92, it was the most cost effective way to go up the hp ladder for the engine portfolio.

    They still build select NEW Series 53, 71 and 92s for the US Army today, with a significant global rebuild market for those as well.
  19. RT46

    RT46 Senior Member

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    took me and 2 big guys to muscle a 671 TIB head. I think its the same head on the 12 71TA? 4 valve? J valves?
  20. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I would question this; Sadly, the best 2 strokes could not preform barely to tier 3 emissions. I have argued this for a while but it's a fact of life for a 70 year old design.
    Running NATO common JP5 gave them some hope on existing platforms but was doomed for the final blow (removal) as ports (starting with the U.S.) refused anything lower than tier 4 in contract or port acceptance.
    I'm probably one of the fattest 71 supporters here. But she has to yield to the politico, they are not that clean and the US DOD is dropping the design.