anybody seen a Viking deck or house boat? - The Hull Truth

rkeene007 · 03-09-2008, 05:57 PM

saw a neat looking, roughly 25', viking houseboat on tampa bay this past weekend.
owner invited me aboard. unlikely to get the wife on one, but looked great for hanging out over weekend and doing a little "on water" camping and fishing for reds and snook.

i've never seen one before.... guy told me his was a 1981.... anybody know about these? i searched "boat trader" and only found one up in new york for sale.

know any other "boat for sale" websites i can check? already checked on this forum...there weren't any viking houseboats listed.

doesn't look like they make them anymore either....

ABoater · 03-09-2008, 08:15 PM

Long-gone out of business. And no relation what-so-ever to the Viking Yacht line.

We had a local dealer that carried the Viking's here in town. Not very good quality. And their designs were "ahead of their time" as far as deckboats go. Most folks were either still happy with pontoons, or the ever increasing popularity of bow riders.

I still have a few of their brochures in my archives. I only recall them being around here for a few years.

If that is the style boat that you are looking for, check out some used Hurricanes.

As far as trailerable houseboats go, check out Trackers or Lil' Hobo's.

Some other "oldies but goodies" include Delta Van Cruiser's, Land and Sea Craft, Yukon Delta Houseboats and Cruiser Homes.

Good luck!

ABoater · 03-09-2008, 08:16 PM

Also, for planty of good info, check Fiberglassics.com.

Lots of "oldies but goodies" there...

HAMPTONS1 · 03-27-2008, 03:10 PM

The Viking in NY is a pig-the engine,outdrive and generator need to be replaced and they still want 10K!!!!!!!!!!!-if you look for Steury houseboats you will find what you want. Steury made this boat in a 23' model from the early 70's up til 1980-it then was bought out by Viking who produced hulls for 2 years before becoming Chris Craft who dropped the small houseboat.

wjf · 03-27-2008, 03:17 PM

My wife's grandfather had a Viking deck boat up on Smith Mountain lake in Virginia. It never ran from when I first saw it in 2004. He had it since 1980 or so I think. It sat on a lift for many years unused. We started it on the 4th of July a couple of years, but that was it. It had a big V8 and an OMC outdrive that needed to be replaced. If you ever wondered what happened to old boats, as to this particular one a guy from West Virginia came and bought it and paid $800. I could not believe it.

It did have a nice big layout- was probably one of the first deck boats.

muskie3dude · 06-15-2009, 03:30 PM

I have a gorgeous maroon/silver 20 foot, 10 person, 1983 Chris Craft / Viking deck boat with a 260BHP V8 and Mercruiser stern drive. She will run some 47MPH and that is way too fast for such a heavy missle :-) .
I have been searching for a shop manual (electical schematic). Do you have any help?

muskie3dude · 06-15-2009, 03:33 PM

Again, I need some technical data and Viking seems to be pre-electronic or something. Any help is appreciated (and could be rewarded).

ndeepoffroad · 06-29-2009, 03:42 PM

Hello all! I'm new here, and I found you guys searching on Google for some things for my Viking 220 which is a 1979 Viking with a 235hp 351V8. I don't have much info on it, as it was bought from a friend, but it is all original and runs great. It has the original Viking vinyl seats with the logo and all the original gauges work. It's maroon and white. It rides really good in the water considering it is wider than my Dodge pickup and is a deckboat. I had never seen one before mine, and get lots of complements on it.

If I find any more info I will post it up here. Mine looks like it will be fairly simple to work on...it has a Holley 650 carb on it and basic wiring. If anyone has any info on this particular vessel I'd like to read about them.

Thanks and here are some pics!

Well......i was going to put some pics on here, but I don't know how to do it...

...if this site is like the offroad site I'm on you have to donate and get a membership to post pics. Anyway, if anyone can do it, message me or hit me up on Facebook (Branndon Terry with two 'N's) and you can see a few there.

Nice board and hopefully I can learn some new stuff about my boat and boats in general here!

edit: if i had taken the time to read the FAQ page and some other posts I would know more about the site, but I'm an impatient idiot and jumped right in here. LOL, sorry for cluttering up the thread.