viking 82 sportfisher

Viking Yacht Company Celebrates over four and a half decades
The Viking Yacht Company has celebrated four and a half decades in business building luxury performance sportfishing and cruising yachts. Started by brothers Bob and Bill Healey in 1964 when they bought Peterson-Viking Builders, a small, struggling New Jersey builder of 37-foot, wooden sportfishing boats, Viking Yachts has grown to become a world leader in semi-custom fiberglass yacht production with over 4,000 Vikings delivered. With Bob at the company helm as Chief Executive Officer and deal maker, and Bill as company President, chief boatbuilder and head of the company's in-house design and engineering teams, this family-owned and managed business is still the industry leader. Viking Yacht Company can build over 100 high-end yachts, from 46 to 82 feet and valued at $1 million to $5.5 million each year. Skilled employees build yachts in Viking's state-of-the-art, 810,000 square-feet, waterfront-manufacturing facility year round. Not too long ago, though, the picture at Viking was anything but rosy. When the double-whammy of a nationwide recession hit in 1990, followed by the introduction of a federal luxury tax in 1991, the company went from 1,500 employees in two plants to just 80 employees in one plant. In general, the marine industry went into a tailspin that resulted in massive plant shutdowns and a significant rippling effect of related closures as ancillary businesses, such engine manufacturers, equipment producers and other vendors saw their markets dry up. The Healeys borrowed working capital and invested their own money to keep the company afloat. Bob Healey also was instrumental in organizing a national, grass-roots campaign to fight the tax based on a loss of jobs issue. In taking the industry lead, Bob organized busloads of out-of-work boat builders that converged on Capitol Hill. Other demonstrations took place on a regular basis around the country to plead for support in repealing the tax. In Rhode Island, a boat was set on fire aboard a barge in Narragansett Bay as a symbol of protest. It took better than two years, but by 1993 the luxury tax was history and Viking was poised to flex its muscles as boat buyers returned to the market. It is interesting to note that Viking's decision to remain open, despite dismal sales attributable to the luxury tax allowed the company to tool up for new models. Thus, when the tax was lifted, Viking roared to the front line leapfrogging over its competition firmly establishing Viking as the dominant builder in its class.