Viking 80 Convertible Review and Used Buying Guide

The boat nobody thought Viking needed

When Viking showed the 80 at the 2015 Fort Lauderdale show, industry insiders were puzzled. The company already had an 82 Convertible and had just launched the 92 as its flagship. Why build a new boat only two feet shorter than the 82? Power and Motoryacht got the answer: more than half of Viking's customers mainly cruise, and the first-generation 82, which actually measured about 84 feet and 22 feet wide and weighed 155,000 to 180,000 pounds depending on options, suited that crowd better than it suited hardcore anglers.

The 80 was the correction, a true 80-footer with a foot less beam and about 145,000 pounds with full fuel. It was the fishier boat in the lineup, and it turned into a phenomenon. Viking says it delivered 54 of them before the second-generation 82 replaced it in 2024, and Pat Healey describes the 80 as the most successful 80-foot sportfish ever built. That is why it is the reference point for anyone shopping the big end of the viking sportfish market today.

Kevlar, carbon and a weight war

Viking attacked weight everywhere. Kevlar replaced several layers of fiberglass laminate, carbon fiber went into the superstructure, hardtop and helm console, and Nomex honeycomb appears throughout. The hull is resin infused with foam and balsa coring. Later boats added lighter interior woods, strut cones, flush-mounted pickups and a smoother running bottom, all developed partly as research for the Viking 90.

The running surface descends from a hull Viking introduced on the 52. Power and Motoryacht measured about 11 degrees of transom deadrise on its test boat, while the Enclosed Bridge first look listed 12.5 degrees, with four molded lifting strakes, a sharp entry, a high forward chine and about 9 feet of freeboard at the bow. The beam is carried well aft for lift, balance and interior volume.

The payoff showed up in speed. Viking says its last three 80 demo boats went from a 40.5-knot boat to a 43.5-knot boat as the team refined the propulsion, and the Advanced Viking Propulsion System, with twisted flow-aligned rudders and struts, arrived on late hulls.

What 5,270 horsepower actually does

Power and Motoryacht tested an early 80 with twin 2,635 hp MTU 16V2000 M96Ls, ZF 3070A gears at 2.75:1 and five-blade Veem Interceptor props, carrying 2,200 gallons of fuel. Its two-way average top speed was 41.2 knots at 2,430 rpm on 256 gph. A 33.6-knot cruise at 2,050 rpm burned 182 gph for a published range of 432 nautical miles, and 35.7 knots at 2,150 rpm took 198 gph. The boat turned hard over in about a boat length and a quarter in both directions, and the tester could see the bow from the helm seat, which matters more than it sounds when docking 80 feet of boat.

Standard power was a pair of Caterpillar C32s rated around 1,915 to 1,925 hp, with an MTU V12 option at 1,945 hp, but nearly every 80 on the brokerage market carries the M96Ls. Late brokerage descriptions quote 42 knots at full load and a 36-knot cruise for boats with the Advanced Viking Propulsion System.

Cockpit, tower and three bridge styles

Cockpit size is quoted at 216 to 217 square feet depending on the source, with a transom door, transom fishbox and livewell, in-deck boxes, a chill box and a double mezzanine that hides enormous stowage and doubles as the best seat for watching baits. A Seakeeper 26 was a $180,000 option on the test boat, and later boats moved to the Seakeeper 35 under a solid cockpit hatch.

The 80 came in three forms. The open-bridge Convertible has a center console helm with three Release chairs and four large displays. The Enclosed Bridge adds a climate-controlled upper salon and helm. The Skybridge, which Viking pioneered, puts an open flybridge above the enclosed one so the captain can drive from either. Every version can carry a Palm Beach Towers tuna tower, which was a $216,275 option on the 2016 test boat.

Five staterooms and a full-beam master

Below decks the 80 uses a five-stateroom layout highlighted by a full-beam amidships master with big hull windows, his and hers sinks and a large shower. The VIP forward typically has an island queen, and the remaining cabins mix doubles and upper and lower berths, each with head access. A pantry forward of the galley was large enough that Viking converted it into a compact crew berth on the test boat, and brokerage boats often carry that option.

The salon surprised Power and Motoryacht with its size. A large galley with a three-stool bar sits forward and to port, a U-shaped dinette is raised to starboard over rod stowage, and American walnut was the popular joinery choice. The engine room has a full 7 feet of headroom, a Dometic watermaker, twin 32 kW Onan generators and an overhead soft patch for engine removal.

Reading the Viking 80 brokerage market

With 54 hulls spread over about nine years, the 80 has a deep market for a boat this size. Asking prices in 2024 to 2026 ran from about $6.5 million for 2019 boats to just under $9 million for a 2024 hull, and the oldest 2016 boats should trade lower. Former Viking demo boats are worth a look: they are usually built with the latest updates, maintained by the factory team and sold with low hours, and one 2021 demo was listed at $7.995 million.

Expect running costs of roughly $650,000 to $1.1 million a year with a full-time captain and mates, a Seakeeper, two generators, MTU service and fuel. At Power and Motoryacht's 182 gph at 33.6 knots, a 100-mile run to the canyon and back burns close to 1,100 gallons. The good news is that every 80 was built with Viking's standard of access and redundancy, including two centralized seawater pumps, so a well-documented boat is a predictable one.