Albin 25, the Swedish Pocket Trawler Behind Albin Boats

How a Swedish snekke became the first famous Albin boat

Long before the name Albin boats meant Taiwan-built trawlers and New England fishing boats, it meant this little Swede. In the late 1960s designer Per Brohäll took a fresh look at the snekke, a traditional Scandinavian wooden displacement boat with an amidships wheelhouse joined to the cockpit, sleeping four with a galley and head. Using fiberglass, a small diesel and a family layout, he drew what Soundings called a second-generation snekke, aiming for a semidisplacement hull and about 10 knots.

Albin was already an old name by then. Lars Albin Larsson founded Albin Motor in Kristinehamn in 1899 to build marine engines, and in the 1960s the family business began building its own fiberglass boats, starting with the Vega 27 sailboat in 1965, under what became Albin Marin. The 25 was a natural fit: a boat designed to carry the company's own diesel.

It became a phenomenon. Soundings puts sales at more than 2,000 worldwide, Swedish Wikipedia at over 2,500, a Swedish sales record for a motorboat, and the owner-run albin25.eu site at about 2,795. Americans in particular embraced the practical, economical and trailerable boat, and Soundings credits it with helping establish the modern pocket trawler.

Two cabins, a wheelhouse and a sunroof in 25 feet

The genius of the Albin 25 is how much it packs into 25 feet. Forward there is a cabin with a V-berth, the galley and the head. Amidships is the wheelhouse with distinctive windows and a roll-back sunroof over the helm. Aft, the AK (aft cabin) version adds a second cabin whose bunks extend under the cockpit for legroom, with a cockpit above that is big for the boat's size.

The result sleeps four to five, with a real separation between a couple forward and kids aft that few boats this small can offer. Headroom and elbow room are 1960s Scandinavian rather than modern American, but owners repeatedly describe the boat as reliable and enormous fun, and one Austrian owner family has cruised theirs on the Danube and the Adriatic for years with three children.

• LOA 25 ft 0 in (7.6 m), LWL 22 ft 2 in (6.75 m)
• Beam 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m), draft 2 ft 4 in (0.7 m)
• Displacement about 1,600 kg (3,527 lb) with standard engine, per albin25.eu; Swedish Wikipedia lists 1,750 kg
• Fuel about 80 liters (21 gal) per Swedish Wikipedia

Engines, speed and that famous economy

The first boats used Albin's own small diesel, about 20 hp according to Soundings and 22 hp (the AD-21) according to Swedish sources. Later boats moved to Volvo Penta diesels, with the MD17C at 36 hp in the late 1970s. Soundings reports 9 to 10 knots at an economical 1.5 gallons per hour with the later Volvo.

The albin25.eu owners site gives a useful breakdown: about 6 knots cruising and 8 knots maximum with the small Volvo MD2B, and about 8 knots cruising and 10 knots maximum with the MD3B or MD17C. Swedish buyer's guides describe a 6 to 7 knot cruise on the MD17C. Many boats have since been repowered; one owner's 42-hp Solé Mini 44 burns about 1.8 liters per hour at 5.5 knots.

That economy is the whole point. A 25-foot boat that crosses a bay on half a gallon an hour at displacement speed, or runs all day on a single small tank, costs almost nothing to fuel by modern standards.

Early round bottoms versus post-1973 hulls

Not all Albin 25s are the same. Swedish sources note that early boats, with a rounded bottom, can feel tender in rough water, and that from 1973 the hull got a wider bottom aft along with the stronger engine, making the boat noticeably more stable. If you plan to cross open water, a later hull is the better buy.

Albin also offered the 25 in cruising and motorsailing models, the latter with a rig, and even semifinished for do-it-yourselfers. Motorsailer versions typically have a deeper or triple keel arrangement and a mast support in the cabin, so check what you are buying. The deep keel on all versions improves tracking, protects the propeller and adds lateral stability.

When was the Albin 25 built?

Sources disagree on dates, which matters when a seller quotes a year. Soundings dates the design to 1968 and the production run to 1968 through 1981. Swedish Wikipedia says 1967 to 1978 at the Kroksvik works outside Kristinehamn, and albin25.eu says about 2,795 were built between 1969 and 1977. Owners often find that the documented year is uncertain; the albin25.eu family dated their boat to about 1972 from engine compartment details even though the seller said 1978.

The company itself changed hands: Albin Marin was sold in 1973 and went bankrupt in 1982, after which a new company continued production of some models. In the United States the Albin name continued on Taiwan-built trawlers and later fishing boats from Albin Marine of Cos Cob, Connecticut, which stopped building boats in 2007.

Buying an Albin 25 more than fifty years on

Prices are low and the variation is all about condition. Swedish listings we checked ranged from 26,000 kronor for a 1972 boat with a 23-hp engine to 115,000 kronor for a well-equipped 1975 De Luxe, roughly $2,500 to $12,000. In the US, where fewer survive, expect roughly $6,000 to $25,000, with repowered, well-kept boats on trailers at the top. Annual costs can be as low as a few thousand dollars.

Because almost every surviving boat is at least 45 years old, the survey matters more than the price. Engines, fuel tanks, wiring and the wheelhouse windows are the usual projects, and a new diesel can cost more than the boat. The upside is a large, enthusiastic owner community in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands, plus Albin owner groups in the US.