Page 75 - 52nd Annual White Marlin Open

fiberglass which was completely backwards from the industry.
My father still couldn’t grasp this whole fiberglass thing as far
as the structural integrity of the hull, but then again, these light-
weight fiberglass boats that were being built at the time were I got out of high school in 1976 I worked for the company for
going faster than our boats. Finally, in ’72, they converted over three years. I wasn’t ready for college, I enjoyed what I did and
to a Viking 33’ sport fisher. That was our first fiberglass boat. wanted to be a boat builder right away. My father wasn’t too
We went from making one boat wooden boat a month in the happy about it,so he gave me every crappy job there was. After
60’s to one fiberglass boat every two weeks in the 70’s. Instead 2 1/2 years of that, I decided there’s got to be a better way to
of 12 boats a year, we were making 30 boats a year, a significant do this and went back to school. I attended St. Joe University
step in our company history. in Philadelphia.

What were the next few years like? Smart man, your Dad.

That Viking 33’ went to the New York boat show which at the Absolutely!
time was the most significant show in the industry. The boat
met with great success.Then in ’73-‘74 we came out with a 40’ How manyVikings do you build each year now?
Viking with a hull designed to make the boat push a lot easier
Photograph by: Harry R. Hindmarsh
so that you wouldn’t need so much horsepower.We went back When I came back to the company after college in the early
a redid the 33’ to be 35’ and then a 43’ double cabin was made. ‘80’s, we were building 150 boats a year in the 35-45’ range.
Then, as we began to build bigger boats, we scaled back the

When did you actually start working for the company? numbers. The complication and sophistication of the larger

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