Victoria Z: Building a Boat in Honor of the Man Who Dreamed It

Victoria Z is, on paper, a performance boat.

Twin 427 Ford Cobra motors built by Sterling Performance. 1,100 horsepower. Arneson ASD-6 surface drives. 5-blade racing propellers. A Stepped-Vee Ventilated Tunnel hull designed by Michael Peters Yacht Design. A top speed of nearly 90 MPH on a 35-foot wooden hull.

But the deeper story — the one Ben Van Dam wrote personally in the 2024 magazine — is about the man who set all of this in motion.

Enjoying the Journey

The project began with a relationship. For many years, the Van Dam crew had the pleasure of knowing the husband behind this commission deeply — thoughtful conversations, shared obsession with detail, a genuine friendship built over time. He personally selected his own crankshafts. He was, by all accounts, the first owner in Van Dam’s history to do so.

He lived by a simple credo: enjoy the journey. And the design and build process — years of it — brought him the most joy.

He passed before Victoria Z could be completed.

Finishing What Was Started

His widow — also a decades-long partner, friend, and advocate of the Van Dam team — worked alongside the crew to complete Victoria Z in a way her husband would have approved. That meant no compromises. No shortcuts. No decisions made out of expedience.

It meant finishing the boat exactly as he had imagined it.

Many on the Van Dam team have, in a real sense, grown up alongside this family. Their trust, Ben wrote, has inspired the team to push their craft forward in ways that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

What Victoria Z Is

She embodies the perfect blend of design, power, and innovation — inspired by her sister ship Alpha Z, launched by Van Dam in 1998, and refined through thought-provoking conversations with her owner and collaboration with Michael Peters Yacht Design.

• Twin 427 Ford Cobras producing 1,100 HP combined through Arneson surface drives
• 5-blade racing propellers, 49-inch rudders in gunmetal finish
• Frameless windscreen and low-slung profile built for maximum visual speed
• Hand-carved dash, compound laminations on deck, CNC-cut exhaust tube supports
• Bow thruster for close-quarters control despite the performance pedigree
• CZone digital switching for full customization of every electrical system and lighting

Specs: 35 feet, 8’6″ beam, 9,000 lb displacement, twin 427 Ford Cobras producing 1,100 HP, top speed nearly 100 MPH.

Available for Purchase

Victoria Z is currently available for purchase. It is an extraordinary opportunity to own one of the world’s finest wooden boats — and one of the most personally significant builds in Van Dam’s history. Contact us to inquire.