48 Viking for Sale, a Buyer's Guide to the Viking 48 Convertible

A 48 Viking for sale could be one of three boats

Type "48 Viking for sale" into a search engine and you will see boats separated by decades. Viking's first 48 Convertible appeared in the mid 1980s; Power and Motoryacht wrote in 2016 that it had hit the high seas more than 30 years earlier and immediately led the pack. A second 48 Convertible launched around 2007 on a 16 ft 6 in beam with twin 800 hp MANs. The third, the subject of this guide, debuted at the Miami International Boat Show in February 2016 as an improvement on the successful Viking 46 Convertible.

The 2016 boat stayed in production for about a decade. In 2024 Scania and its distributor Mack Boring commissioned a new 48 as a demonstrator for Scania's 1,150 hp DI16 engines. By late 2025 Viking was presenting a third-generation Viking 50 Convertible in its place, and the 48 no longer appears in the current model list. If you want a Viking in this size with warranty, look at the 50; if you want value and a proven layout, a late 48 is the smart buy.

What Viking changed over the 46

Marlin's Ken Kreisler saw the new 48C beside a 46C at Viking's Riviera Beach service center and noted how much the extra two feet bought, above all in the cockpit, now 124 sq ft, and in dedicated space under the sole for a Seakeeper 9 gyro. The 48 was the first of four models on the platform: the flybridge convertible, the Sport Coupe with a three-sided hard enclosure, the Sport Tower and the open express.

Power and Motoryacht's Bill Pike liked the styling: a dramatically raked stem, a wide, uncluttered foredeck that carries its beam well aft, and a black metallic windshield mask that blends with the side windows into one wraparound feature. Under the hull, Viking specified ten equally spaced stations along the chine running from 11.8 degrees of deadrise at the transom to a sharp 36 degrees forward.

Three staterooms and a washer dryer in 49 feet

The salon is entered through a sliding fiberglass door and finished in teak or walnut, satin or high gloss. An L-shaped lounge with hi-lo table sits to starboard opposite a credenza, with a 40 inch television and surround sound. Forward, a U-shaped galley has Amtico flooring, Cambria counters and high-end appliances, and Viking borrowed the raised bar top at the end of the island galley from its 80 and 92 footers.

Below, the 48 has three staterooms and two heads: a large en suite master to starboard with a HandCraft mattress and maple-lined lockers, an over and under forepeak cabin and a guest cabin opposite the master, which share the day head. A dedicated washer and dryer closet in the passageway is a rare luxury at this size. That three-cabin layout is the main reason the 48 suits families and tournament crews equally.

Bridge, cockpit and engine room

The flybridge has a walkaround centerline helm pod with seating forward and on both sides, so guests sit out of the captain's line of sight. Electronics sit in glass-enclosed cabinets, three Garmin GPSMap 8212 displays on the boat Marlin tested, with a drop-down overhead pod for extra instruments, teaser reels in the hardtop and an optional Palm Beach Towers tower.

Engine room access is through a lift-up hatch in the mezzanine bench. Kreisler found ample overhead room for maintenance despite the 48's size, white Awlgrip finish and Viking's centralized seawater system with a backup in-line pump, so air conditioning can keep running while one pump is serviced. Test boats carried an Eskimo ice machine, a 700 gallon per day watermaker, a 21.5 kW Cummins Onan generator and Dometic air conditioning.

• Cockpit 124 sq ft with mezzanine, fish boxes and livewell
• Seakeeper 9 space under the cockpit sole
• Fuel 997 gallons standard, about 1,190 with the optional tank
• Water 178 gallons

MAN power and how it handled a rough day

Power and Motoryacht listed twin 1,200 hp MAN V8-1200 diesels as standard, with a 30 knot cruise and a top speed in the mid 30s; Marlin's test boat described the same engines as an option, so check the build sheet on any boat. Kreisler ran the 48 from Viking's Riviera Beach service center into constant 4 to 6 foot seas on the nose and found it landed softly, dealt with each sea easily and, with the gyro spinning, could back down, spin and set up for kite fishing comfortably.

We have not found a published instrumented fuel curve for the 2016 48, so we leave cruise fuel burn blank. The 2007 generation, for comparison, was quoted by Viking at a 29 knot cruise and 34 knot top speed on twin 800 hp MANs, with a 38 knot option on larger 10-cylinder engines. In 2024 Viking also launched a 48 on twin Scania DI16 1,150 hp engines as a demonstrator, which may appear on the brokerage market.

The earlier 48s, briefly

The 2007 48 Convertible measured 48 ft 10 in by 16 ft 6 in, drew 4 ft 9 in, displaced 49,600 lb and carried 850 gallons of fuel and 175 of water, with a 130 sq ft cockpit and a two or three stateroom layout aft of a forward master. Salt Water Sportsman quoted a $925,000 base price. It is a lighter, narrower and much cheaper boat than the 2016 model, and a good choice for buyers on a tighter budget who still want Viking build quality.

The original 1980s 48 is a classic now, best bought by owners who know older diesel boats and want a project with a famous name. Survey it as you would any 40-year-old yacht.

Viking 48 for sale, prices and ownership costs

The 2016 base price was $1,665,000. In July 2025, Yachting reported a 2018 48 Convertible with 1,200 hp MANs at 1,475 hours, a Seakeeper, the extra fuel tank and a full Garmin package listed at $1.745 million. We estimate used 2016 to 2024 boats at roughly $1.35 million to $2.6 million in 2026, with low hours, recent electronics and a tower adding the most.

Annual costs, excluding depreciation, are about $120,000 to $220,000 with dockage, insurance, a part-time captain or mate, MAN and generator service, Seakeeper maintenance, bottom paint and fuel. Viking's resale strength helps offset those costs at sale time.