GRAND DUKE: 70 Viking Enclosed Bridge Walkthrough

GRAND DUKE – the 70′ Viking Enclosed Bridge built in 2015 and completely customized by her owner with one purpose, to travel the world.

I’m Alex Clarke from Denison Yachting, standing in the main salon on this immaculate Viking, here in Quepos, Costa Rica. GRAND DUKE was specifically customized by her owner to serve as a shadow boat to his 58 meter Feadship. In order to reach the remote areas of the world, she was outfitted with options that you’re not going to find on your average Viking. One feature that really makes GRAND DUKE stand out is her majestic blue hull color and vivid red boot stripe – both painted in Awlcraft 2000.

We’re going to start today here in the cockpit. Beneath the teak sole, you’re going to have two large fish boxes, both with macerator pumps, direct access to your Seakeeper gyro stabilizer. And above that, this impressive release fighting chair.

Stepping up to the mezzanine, you have seating for four. Above you, you’ve got air conditioning vents and beneath the teak soul, you have refrigeration and freezer space. Before stepping into the salon, why don’t we go and check out the engine room? Here’s where you’ll find your twin MTU 16V 2000-series M94 engines, 2600 horsepower each with only 1800 hours. Now it’s important for me to point out that the majority of these hours were done at a low rate of speed; that translates into less stress on the vessel.

With a push of a button, you enter the main salon. Immediately to port, you have your dayhead. Into starboard, you have your L-shaped settee that has custom storage beneath it for rods and tackle. We all know that Viking is a world leader in producing sport fish boats. But standing here in the main salon it’s obvious, there’s a lot of yacht quality finishes throughout. Some of the details that you’ll notice in the high gloss teak interior are inlaid burl and all of the tables both in the main salon and the Sky Lounge and detailed joinery throughout.

The highlight of the main salon is the galley island with three barstools. To port, your pop-up TV and then you have direct access to the Sky Lounge. This galley is a great place for guests to gather, swap fishing stories, cook a good meal or just relax after a long day on the water. Cold storage is never an issue with these six sub-zero refrigeration and freezer drawers. You also have your Fisher & Paykel glass stovetop and dishwasher, as well as trash compactor. Opposite the galley to starboard is your built-in settee that comfortably seats five guests. Just forward of the galley, where you would typically find your doghouse, the owner has converted this space into custom storage for rods and reels.

GRAND DUKE features four ensuite cabins, sleeping up to eight guests and crew. What I love about the layout is that the aft most cabin, which doubles as the crew accommodations, gives you direct access to the engine room and this is something you’re not going to find on a lot of sportfish boats.

Moving forward down the companionway to port, you step into your master cabin. A common theme that you’re going to see throughout the guest accommodations is a large amount of storage. For example, here in the master cabin to both port and starboard of the centerline queen berth, you’re going to have his and hers hanging cedar-line closets. Just outside of the master cabin, you have full-size stackable washer and dryer. To port you have the smallest of the four cabins, which is a nice bunk room, again with ensuite. Finally, all the way forward is your VIP.

To me, my favorite place on board is the Sky Lounge. This Sky Lounge is a more intimate version of the main salon: you have your built-in settee, flat-screen TV, two sub-zero refrigerator-drawers and of course your main helm station. A key feature of the enclosed bridge is that it allows the captain to navigate in any weather condition. You’ve got two settees, one to port one to starboard, both sitting three guests. You have your three touchscreen monitors – all of your controls easily accessible in front of you and great visibility when underway. You got your radar, zoom-in, zoom-out. All your gain adjustments up here, very, very easy to use. You can go into your camera system, so you can get your FLIR night vision camera up on here. It’s got an in-build alarm system, so I can watch all my bilges, high-water alarms, so if I see something flash on, I know that there’s an issue I need to tend to.

Here on the aft deck you have a full helm to port, great for docking. Opposite that to starboard, you have a settee, which is the best vantage point for watching the action in the cockpit. Combine her tall bridge clearance with a custom Palm Beach tuna tower on top of that and rough outriggers and you have that wow factor. Located in the helm station at the top of the tower, you’re going to have your Garmin monitor, Simrad autopilot, Icom, VHF, bow thruster controls and gauges.

Forward on the bow, a key safety feature is the half rail and then you have your Pullman anchor with 300 feet of chain. So we installed a very serious anchoring arrangement up on this boat, mainly because of our cruising aspect of our boat’s operation. Peace of mind: it’s a full, heavy anchor, it’s not a lightweight aluminum anchor. So I dropped that down and you can, you can rest easy.

I’m Alex Clarke from Denison Yachting. I hope you’ve enjoyed spending time with me onboard. If you’d like to receive full technical specifications or a brochure, feel free to contact me at any time.