Vikal is a builder of high quality super yacht tenders and has delivered more than 50 customizedtenders, to motor yachts over 75 meters. Vikal sets the benchmark for quality, innovation & reliability. The delivery of quality & innovation without compromise, is at the heart of every Vikal Build. The companies build history and client base speaks for itself with industry longevity & reliability second to none, Vikal has manufactured quality vessels, from the same premises in Western Australia, since 1982.

1. THEYACHT
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2. THE YACHT REPORT
The Aussie
Viking
Vikal
Vikal International in Fremantle, Western Australia, has supplied custom tenders to some of
the largest and most prestigious superyachts in the world. Gunnar Vikingur, the company’s
charismatic yet diffident founder and owner, has traditionally shunned publicity, preferring
to let the product speak for itself. But he recently opened his doors to TYR and Justin
Ratcliffe brings this report based on an afternoon’s conversation with the Aussie Viking.

3. THE YACHT REPORT
TENDERS REPORT | VIKAL
The tender on
Lürssen’s Darius
When I walked into Vikal‟s reception on
a quiet industrial estate in a Fremantle suburb,
Gunnar Vikingur was pouring over a
Steyr brochure about an emergency mechanical
drive system for its electronically controlled marine
diesel engines; a clever and practical feature that
allows the helmsman to engage a mechanical „get
home‟ mode in case of complete electrical failure.
“The more people invent things the more they stay
the same”, commented Gunnar dryly as we shook
hands. This was not a flippant remark (he was
impressed by the innovation, despite the fact it
relies on fail-safe mechanical technology that has
been around for a very long time), but it was a
typically perspicuous one that reflects his hands-on
approach to life in general and boatbuilding in
particular.
While such a no-nonsense attitude is often
associated with Australians, especially in the
remoter states, it is also characteristic of the stalwart
national character bound up in Gunnar‟s Icelandic
genes. Certainly the geography and climate of both
countries can be hard on
human beings, so you might think his father was
swapping a cold and harsh environment for a hot
and harsh one when he moved the family from
the east coast of Iceland to Western Australia in
1969. Gunnar was aged 15 at the time and is
clearly proud of his Nordic heritage, revealing a
firm grasp of history and Old Norse as he
explained the origins of his own name and that of
his company (Vik means „bay‟ and Vikings are
„bay people‟ who spread from Norway to
Iceland and other regions in the ninth century). On
arrival Gunnar joined his boatbuilder father and
went to work at a local yard at a time when
fibreglass construction was taking over from
traditional planking and plywood techniques.
He struck out on his own and founded Vikal in
1982 to carry out refit and repair work and build
the odd sport fisherman. He later won a
contract with Austal to supply components such as
AC ducting, ceiling panels and battery boxes and
then with Oceanfast to build more complete
composite structures.
“This contract work was very important work for
us in the early years”, explains Gunnar. “During the
same period we were a sub-contractor for
Oceanfast and built composite superstructures for
aluminium yachts such as Moecca and Opal C
using light-skinned Kevlar that was foam
sandwiched and vacuum bagged together. Then we
built the composite hulls and superstructures for
Thunder, Mercedes II and Perfect Prescription –
these were significant Oceanfast builds for which
we built all the main structures.”
Any mention of Oceanfast inevitably raises the
name and reputation of Jon Bannenberg, who
was also the key figure in Vikal‟s subsequent
emergence as a custom tender builder.
“Jon came by the yard often when we were
building the superstructure for Oceana and he was
always looking out for a means to having his ideas
produced”, continues Gunnar. “It was a lot easier
for us to devise shapes that were very difficult in
aluminium, so we built radar masts, spa baths and
carbon fibre staircases that he had designed. One
day he said he was involved in building a 70-plus-
metre yacht with Lürssen and he wanted me to
build the tenders. This was 18 years ago and the
yacht was Coral Island.”
By a curious twist of fate, Coral Island‟s two 7.5-
metre tenders, the very first bespoke tenders to
carry the Vikal logo, are back in the yard after
being acquired by Gunnar (the full story behind
these historic Bannenberg-designed tenders is
revealed in Q4 of SuperyachtDesign out in
September). With their Venetian water taxi
looks and signature rope rub strake, the limo and

4. THE YACHT REPORT
Cakewalk’s tender on the move

5. THE YACHT REPORT
TENDERS REPORT | VIKAL
Dilbar also sports one
of Vikal’s tenders
sports tender set the standard for all subsequent
Vikal production. At the time they were
recognised as something new and ushered in a new
era of custom tenders that were, in effect,
miniature superyachts.
Like other Australian boat builders, Gunnar is a
big fan of Derakane, the vinylester resin
originally developed by the chemical industry in the
US for its high temperature tolerance and resistance
to corrosion with the added benefit of stopping
osmosis in its tracks. Today, all Vikal hulls are
vacuum infused using Derakane, which is simpler to
work with than more expensive epoxy resins, not
least because it is safer and cures much more
quickly. At the time of my visit, the company was
hardly feeling the effects of the global recession and
was working to capacity with two 12-metre limos,
two 10-metre open tenders, two identical 10.5-metre
limos and a 9.85-metre limo in build.
“Our turn may be coming”, Gunnar countered, “but
we‟ve never been busier than we are right now and
over the past 15 years we‟ve been working to
capacity 95 per cent of the time. I sold three boats
last year, which is close to one year‟s work and
we‟ve been able to repeat that this year.”
Such a level of demand is a reflection of Vikal‟s
elevated status in the superyacht world, as is the
fact that most of its tenders appear on some of the
biggest yachts in the world built in northern
European shipyards. A favourite customer, for
example, is Lürssen, with Pelorus, Octopus, Al
Salamah, Dilbar, Darius, Oasis, Arkley and Katie
Sue all sporting Vikal tenders. Quality is the main
ingredient that attracts owners and shipyards such
as Lürssen, Blohm & Voss (Mayan Queen II),
Oceanco (Anastasia), Amels (Boadicea), De Vries
(Rasselas II), van Lent (Anna) and latterly
Derecktor with the new Cakewalk.
Like other relatively isolated yards in Australia and
New Zealand, Vikal has reduced its reliance on sub-
contractors to a minimum, opting to produce
everything from titanium release hooks and engine
mufflers to cabinetry and upholstery in house. This
is in part due to
the fact that that the yard operates from what
Gunnar describes as an “improbable location”
where self-reliance is a necessity rather than a
luxury, but it is also a means to ensuring efficient
quality control.
“We used to go to an outside upholsterer”,
explains Gunnar by way of example, “but then
you struggle with delivery times and you
struggle with quality. We prefer to take the
responsibility ourselves for planning and
execution.” But it is not just planning and
execution that sets Vikal apart: three hours
spent on site with Gunnar, followed by dinner with
Sam Sorgiovanni, a long-standing friend from the
time they worked together with Oceanfast and
now Vikal‟s principal designer, convinced me that
total dedication to the task in hand is what makes
the product special.
“It‟s the philosophy behind a yard that makes it
what it is”, confirms Gunnar. “This is something we
are committed to doing through thick or thin, not
just to make a dollar or as a stepping stone to
something else. We have 70 people working here
and a third of those have been here between eight
and 25 years, so that‟s a
lot of boatbuilding DNA that goes into every
tender we build.”
One criticism occasionally levelled at Vikal is
that its tenders are over-engineered. Gunnar, on
the other hand, sees technical innovation as part
and parcel of what he does. Although he doesn‟t
have a boat of his own (“When you spend six
days a week building them, you
don‟t want to spend the seventh driving one”), he
is a confirmed „petrol head‟ who owns an

6. THE YACHT REPORT
“We’ve never been busier than we
are right now and over the past 15
years we’ve been working to
capacity 95 per cent of the time.”
impressive collection of high-performance cars,
including a Ferrari 550 Maranello – “because it‟s a
great car that oozes good taste” – and
a Ferrari Testarossa, “because it‟s a great design
that oozes bad taste”. All engineers are problem-
solvers at heart and it‟s only a short step from
tinkering with the moving parts of a sports car to
doing the same on a sports tender.
“There‟s a lot that goes into a custom tender that
doesn‟t go into other types of work boats, not
least because they‟re being picked up
all the time. On the Octopus dive tender, for
example, there were 34 hatches and other fixtures
such as lifting and tie-down points, all of which
have to be built into the structure. So, yes, we
certainly engineer them, but to say they‟re over-
engineered is like saying your family car is over-
engineered.”
An example of what might be labelled „over the
top‟ is the fact that Vikal tenders commonly feature
the biggest waterjets that can fit into the space
available. Ever ready with a car analogy, Gunnar
explains this choice as like having
fat tyres on your car: “If you have skinny tyres
you can reach the same top speed, but your
acceleration will be compromised.”
“If you increase the diameter of the jet by just a
few centimetres you can double the volume of
water passing through it and that can double the
price of the unit”, he continued as we looked over
one of the 10-metre tenders destined for a yacht in
build in Holland bristling with features such as
bow thruster, hydraulic bow doors, extendable
hydraulic chocks to eliminate the need for cradles
on the mothership, a 500-litre petrol tank for
refuelling personal water craft (PWCs) and
Hamilton‟s Blue Arrow waterjet control system
for easy manoeuvring by mouse or joystick.
“Waterjets are already expensive, so builders tend
to fit the smallest they can and still achieve the
desired speeds, which equates to a lot of pressure in
a small hose. We fit a big hose and still have high
pressure. Combined with lots of horsepower you
then have a boat that can be out of the water and on
the plane in a matter of seconds. The average
journey from yacht
to shore is around a mile or less – how long do
you want to sit in a trough waiting for the boat to
start planing if the trip only lasts a few minutes?”
All of this doesn‟t come cheaply of course,
especially in the current economic climate when the
Aussie dollar is less competitive than it has been in
the recent past, and owners are unlikely to receive
much in the way of change out of US$1.5 million
for a custom Vikal tender. Gunnar, however, is
unrepentant:
“Justifying the cost is difficult because the law of
diminishing returns always applies. You can buy a
tender with two Volvo engines almost anywhere for
a lot less than they cost here. There are thousands of
boat builders in the US, so American owners don‟t
have to come here – but they do. It‟s a client-driven
decision. We will build what the client wants, but
we will build
to our standards. When you consider the price and
consider the tender may well stay with the yacht
for life, how expensive is it?”
The tender of
Al Mirqab, a Kusch
Yacht built yacht