VICEM Yacht Insight?

Interesting. That is the same impression I and my current boat's owner came away with a few years ago after doing the same type of inspection but at the Lauderdale show.

He and his partner here in Costa Rica build cold molded boats. So he is very familiar and comfortable with that process.

I'd be interested in hearing any first hand comments as well.

The Vicem folks took a bunch of us for an evening cruise last summer on their 90-ish (I forget the exact size) foot motoryacht. We went out in the ocean, which was a little lumpy, not rough.
The ride was comfy, the boat was dry. The interior joinery was exemplary.

I've been down in the guts of these boats in the past few years. Once you wrap your head around the notion of seeing wooden ribs and other scantlings, the construction is fairly robust.

Dirk at Vicem will take good care of you.
Cold molded has been around for sometime. Most of the Carolina boats are cold molded. It is strong and fairly light.
The interior joiner work is very good. The weakness is the engine room but they have come along way and continue to improve. Dont get the sportfish. They dont get it and it shows.
There are some good boats coming out of Turkey and Vicem is committed. Prices are creaping up but still a value.

Don't worry about cold-molded..it's a great process, esp. when used by Vicem with modern epoxies. In WWII, British Mosquito fighter-bombers were cold-molded and beloved by the crews for taking incredible combat damage and still getting home. Vicem has a long and distinguished career and, with new management, is on a roll. Great boats.

I have no worries about Cold-molded construction either. Many of the premier custom sportfish builders have been using Cold molded for a long time. I agree the Vicem sportfish misses the boat in many ways, mainly cruise speed.......it cruises at 25 knots or so in a world where your average production sportfish cruises 30-35knots.

I was just at ACY- American Custom Yachts where they are currently building a 90' SF cold molded. It has 3 sheets of 5/8" plywood, laminated to a 3" thick foam coring material, with fiberglass (I believe) on both the outside and inside of the plywood and foam coring material on the hull. The build was very impressive as was the craftsmanship. They expect it to be done in the Spring of 2012, and acheive 55 knots top end. It has twin MTU 4600hp engines with v-drives. They also had Sandancer (70' Jim Smith) and a 68' Spencer there that they did/are finishing refits on.......A very very nice yard.

Vicem Insight

I purchased my Vicem 58' classic 5 yrs ago. I have 1300 hrs at the helm, about 70% in open water between Bahamas and Maine. It was a bit of a leap of faith on my part back then because Vicem was still in its infancy, but now that both my boat and the builder are time tested, I can say with confidence that I made a great decision. It is one thing for boat to be beautiful to the eye but when you are out there getting beaten up on the nose you better have the real thing under you. My wife and I hope to have a Vicem 72' in my near future. Good luck to you.

Capt. J, I assume you mean 16v2000, M94 2600hp unless they are going with 16v4000s. Can you please clarify. Thanks,

One nice thing is that the Vicem yard laminates the hull from thick mahogany veneers instead of plywood. And yes, the quality is pretty respectable.

They are 4600HP each, 9200HP total, so they must be 16v4000's. There are pictures and such of the boat on their website. They are expecting to achieve 55knots with the boat.

So what is the rub with the vicem sportfish models. I have seen a lot of negativity about them but no reasons. I have been through them and they seem like beautiful boats. So what gives?

Vicem SF

The boats are not that good looking. The hull is boxy The lines are not cohesive. Also, they are not set up functionally for fishing. Yes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So to each his own. I will tell you this. They have not sold many so maybe there is something to my opinion. I will also say the interiors are gorgeous!

I agree, and 10 knots too slow.

vicem

i own a vicem since 2001, all is working well. no problems with the hull. you can see the pictures in the following post;

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/g...ts-hinckley-san-juan-etc.html?highlight=vicem

i may give you more info in your private msgs if you wish to know more and have any specific questions. fyg, i am turkish and know the company since their start. i've no personal attachments other than being an owner.

Vicem present onwer for 4-5 years

I purchased a Viem 54' over four years ago. I had been looking at Vicem's for years and had been on several at various boat shows. When I found my dream boat, a Vicem 54', selling used I jumped on it.

I had no trouble with buying a cold molded boat as I had done some homework on it over the years. They actually make cold molded sails boats in my home town of Duxbury, MA. It's actually a plus and for many reasons you probably already know. But, an additional reason often over looked is the less noise you would tipically get from a fiberglass boat. When first purchasing the boat, I must say that I got exceptional services from both Vicem and the brocker, Dave Mallach.

I am a little hands on as to the care of the boat. Last season I got in to every part of every bilge and cleaned them dry myself. I wanted to see the bilge and how the standing water was or was not effecting the wood. I found noting to comment on. That made me most happy, but not at all surprised.Only one negative comment is that this was Hull#1 and I still haven't found a brochure in English for the Bose microwave/convection oven. I assume this to be no problem today.

Yeah but how is the sound quality of your microwave/convection oven?

Anyone seriously considering a Vicem/ Windsor Craft product should research Windsor Craft Sales, LLC V Vicem, etc. This is a MN case that Vicem lost. The argument was over quality and the surveys of the delivered yachts are not positive. If you read about this case you might wonder if you still want to hand over seven figure money to Vicem. Caveat Emptor!

I am considering to buy a new Vicem Cruiser 67, hull n. 1 for this size. any suggestion?

Have someone there having an eye on the whole Produktion oft the boat doesn't harm, but I would not worry about the quality the yard is capable of.