Boat test for the 2008 Viking Convertible 82 with boat pictures, boat specifications, and boat test results. Includes pricing, engine test reviews and rating for the 2008 Viking Convertible 82.

She's big, fast, and agile, and she's stalking the competition, especially custom builders.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about big sportfishing boats, it’s this: They’re not just about speed. Still, when I saw “38 kts” pop up on the center 19-inch KEP helm monitor, I was impressed. Maybe that’s because it felt more like 20 knots up on the Viking 82’s flying bridge, some 17 feet off the water. Or maybe it was the utter effortlessness with which the big convertible made that number. She didn’t dig a hole coming on plane or make much of a wake once she was up and running. Nor was there any vibration or much sound from her V-16 MTUs. Underwater exhausts and a lot of acoustical engineering ensured that what I did hear came from the water impacting the hull, not from the 4,800 hp beneath my feet.

And her handling was just as effortless. That such a big boat can be so remarkably light-footed is partly due to her unique electronic steering system (see “Noteworthy: PICES,” this story) and partly to a new hull that’s loosely derived from the Viking 74. Tank tested at the Stevens Institute, it’s convex forward, instead of concave like the 74, to produce a soft ride in a head sea. It’s also flatter aft—a 10-degree deadrise compared to 15 for the 74—and features deep propeller pockets that produce a draft of 5'6", an inch less the 74’s. Add to that a third centerline trim tab that’s two feet wide and three 1,000-gallon fuel tanks aligned fore to aft (a fourth 600-gallon tank is optional) connected by a fuel-transfer system, and you have tremendous flexibility in running trim. By loading or unloading the tanks, or leaving one or two empty, and manipulating the centerline tab, you can dial in a running angle that’s anywhere from flat, to punch through a head sea, to as much as six degrees up-bow, to preclude stuffing in a following sea.

Maneuvering this 162,250-pounder is also effortless, especially when backing down, principally because of her 40-hp hydraulic bow thruster. Who uses a bow thruster when fighting a fish? No one. Why? Because you can’t work the gear levers and the thruster joystick and still keep an eye on what’s happening in the cockpit. But Viking offers the option of thruster controls in the gear levers—buttons on the inboard (thumb) side of each T-handle. With them you can work the gears and thruster simultaneously while facing aft and even spin the 82 on her midpoint, if you want to. And since the thruster is hydraulic, you can lean on it all you want without the fear of tripping a thermal breaker, something you’ll appreciate when trying to horse this behemoth into a slip against wind and current. By the way, when you pull those levers into reverse, all three tabs automatically retract so you won’t snag your lines on them.

Something else makes the 82 easy to back down: her curved transom. It’s one of a number of styling cues that set the 82 apart from other Vikings and foreshadow what we’ll see in future models. The curvature deflects water to the side instead of plowing into it. At seven knots in reverse our test boat shipped no significant water. Other less piscatorially oriented aesthetics include a new shape for the main-deck side windows and the absence of a deckhouse (a first), which produces a flush (and very long) foredeck that is, believe it or not, ten feet off the water. (The 82’s foredeck is actually farther off the water than the Viking 61’s bridge deck.) Note also the port and starboard hull-side windows for the master (optional) and the black “windshield” that’s both recessed about an inch to eliminate the problematic paint line and more raked than on any other Viking. Metallic flakes in the black paint help reflect solar radiation.

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