Albin 28 Tournament Express, Used Buyer's Guide to Albin's Best Seller

From a Swedish engine maker to an Albin built for American anglers

The Albin name started in Sweden in 1899 as an engine manufacturer and boatbuilder, and Americans first met it through the little Albin 25 cruiser in the late 1960s. By the 1980s Albin Marine was a US company producing Taiwan-built trawlers such as the well-known Albin 36, and by the time it stopped building boats its lineup of fishing and family boats ran from 26 to 45 feet, managed from Cos Cob, Connecticut.

The Albin 28 Tournament Express, introduced in 1993, became the best-selling boat of that era. Soundings called it one of the builder's most successful designs, with more than 1,000 sold, valued for solid construction and seakindly handling and popular as both a family cruiser and a fishing boat. Albin stopped building boats in the fall of 2007, which makes every 28 TE a used purchase today.

If you came here searching simply for Albin, this is the boat most American owners mean. The active Albin Owners Group, started by a 28 TE owner, grew to hundreds of members and still connects owners of the model.

Why a single diesel and a modified vee work so well

The hull is a modified vee with a skeg-protected rudder and a reputation for tracking straight. The bow is tall, freeboard carries well aft under an even sheer, and walkable side decks with a slight bulwark forward make line handling safer than on many express boats of the period.

One owner told Soundings that seakindliness was the reason he chose the boat after years of getting beaten up on Chesapeake Bay. Running from Thomas Point light to the Gunpowder River in a 4- to 5-foot chop, he said, his previous boat would have pounded and lurched while the Albin powered through and shook it off; the worse it got, the more confidence he had.

The single engine keeps maintenance simple and the propeller and rudder protected, at the cost of twin-engine redundancy and close-quarters maneuverability. Owners usually spend a season learning single-screw handling, then rarely want to go back.

Speed and fuel in practice

No magazine test table for the 28 TE was available to us, so the best numbers come from an owner report. A 1995 boat with a 310-hp Peninsular diesel tops out at around 25 knots and cruises at 18 to 20 knots, with average fuel consumption of 4 to 5 gallons per hour over a season of mixed running. That makes it a remarkably economical way to fish offshore or cruise at semi-planing and planing speeds.

Power across the run ranged widely. Listings in 2008 included boats with 220-hp and 300-hp diesels, the Soundings walkthrough lists a standard 315-hp diesel, and the specification allows a single diesel up to 380 hp. Note that boats with the larger engines need an engine box in the cockpit, while the standard engine is reached through deck hatches.

With 132 gallons of fuel and a 4 to 5 gph average, a 28 TE can fish or cruise all weekend without visiting the fuel dock, though serious offshore runs call for careful planning on a single engine.

• Owner-reported top speed about 25 knots with 310 hp
• Owner-reported cruise 18 to 20 knots
• Season average about 4 to 5 gph
• Fuel 132 gallons, water 36 gallons

Hardtop, cockpit and a compact cabin

The 28 TE came with a soft top or a hardtop. The hardtop version has a swept-back wheelhouse with a triple-pane windshield and large opening side windows, which makes it far more pleasant in spring and fall in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. The helm with pedestal seat sits to starboard and a companion seat to port.

The cockpit is large and open, the boat's real selling point. It has room for fishing, a dog and a few friends at a raft-up, and owners report spending most of their time there rather than below.

Below is compact but complete: a forward berth that converts to a C-shaped dinette, a galley to port with sink, stove, refrigerator and storage, a head with marine toilet and shower to starboard, a quarter berth and a teak and holly sole. It sleeps two in comfort and four in a pinch.

Albin 28 for sale, what the market looks like

The 28 TE was popular on the used market even when new boats were available. In 2008 Soundings found a 1993 hardtop with a 220-hp diesel at $49,000, a 1996 freshwater boat with a low-hour 300-hp diesel at $72,000, a refurbished 2001 California boat at $109,000 and a well-maintained Virginia boat at $115,000. The owner it profiled paid $78,000 for a 1995 in 2005.

Eighteen years on, values have settled lower. We estimate most Albin 28 TE for sale listings in 2026 fall between about $35,000 and $95,000, with documented engine rebuilds, newer electronics and hardtops at the top. Older boats with tired engines can be bargains, but price in a rebuild or repower.

Expect annual costs of roughly $6,000 to $15,000 for fuel, diesel service, bottom paint, insurance and a slip or storage, less in a seasonal northern market.

Where 28 TEs wear after twenty-plus years

Most 28 TEs are now 19 to 33 years old. The common projects are oxidized gelcoat, canvas and coaming pads, electronics, exhaust components and engine mounts on the single diesel. Soundings' profiled boat had a badly oxidized hull but a perfect cabin, cockpit and engine room, which is typical: these boats age cosmetically before they age structurally.

A thorough survey should still check the deck for soft spots around fittings, the fuel tank and hoses, the shaft, strut, skeg and rudder, and the condition of the diesel and transmission. Ask for oil analysis and service records.