Viking 82 Convertible Price, Performance and Two-Generation History

Replacing the most successful 80-footer Viking ever built

The Viking 82 had a hard act to follow. The Viking 80 it replaced delivered 54 hulls between 2015 and 2024, and Pat Healey calls it the most successful 80-foot sportfish ever. Viking announced the new 82 on April 1, 2024, during its 60th anniversary year, launched Hull No. 1 in early summer and premiered it at the Fort Lauderdale show that fall. The design team used feedback from owners, captains and mates on multiple 80 demo boats, then borrowed the styling and systems of the Viking 90 flagship that had debuted less than two years earlier.

This is also the second boat to wear the 82 badge. The first Viking 82 Convertible arrived in 2009, in the middle of the recession, and still sold 27 hulls. Viking says it has now delivered more than 110 convertibles over 80 feet, and the new 82 is offered as an open bridge, an enclosed bridge or a sky bridge. If you are searching for an 82 ft Viking for sale, make sure you know which generation you are looking at, because they are about $7 million apart.

Built at the weight of an 80, two feet longer

Viking says the 82 is built at roughly the same weight as the 80 while gaining two feet of length, which design manager David Wilson expects to improve ride quality. The official specification is 82 feet 11 inches overall, a 21-foot 5-inch beam, a 5-foot 9-inch draft and 154,647 pounds with standard fuel. Styling cues come straight from the 90: an unbroken S-shaped sheer, chamfered deckhouse windows and hull portlights, a hull-side feature line and the latest engine room vent design.

Construction mixes resin infusion and Light Resin Transfer Molding with carbon and E-glass hybrid fabrics and cores of different densities depending on location, all in a modified vinylester and epoxy resin chosen for blister protection. The running surface was refined with computational fluid dynamics, studying center of gravity, pressure distribution, trim angle and tab effectiveness. Viking also offers its Advanced Viking Propulsion System, which uses twisted struts and rudders to clean up flow into and out of the propellers. Naval architect Joe Snodgrass says that lets Viking swing a larger propeller and gain speed.

Sea trial numbers with 14 people aboard

Most 82s carry twin 2,635 hp MTU 16V2000 M96Ls through ZF 3070 A gears at 2.750:1 and five-blade Veem props. Viking's initial sea trials recorded a two-way average of 31 knots at 1,800 rpm burning 153 gph and 36.7 knots at 2,100 rpm burning 206 gph. Marlin's own trial, with 14 people, 2,500 gallons of fuel, tournament tackle and spares aboard as the crew prepared to run to Bermuda, saw 41.7 knots, and the boat has topped 42 knots in tournament trim.

Viking lists a wide engine menu: Caterpillar C32A at 1,925 hp as the base, Caterpillar C32B at 2,025 or 2,433 hp, the MTU 12V2000 M96X at 2,002 hp and the MTU 16V2000 M96L at 2,635 hp. Standard fuel is 2,671 gallons, with 3,330 gallons optional. Proof arrived quickly on the tournament trail: the Viking team boat fishing as Viking 82, run by Capt. Sean Dooley, won the 2026 Bermuda Triple Crown series, according to Marlin.

A 229 square foot cockpit and a full-width bridge

Marlin measured the teak cockpit at 229 square feet. It carries a transom fish box that doubles as a livewell, a transom door and lift gate, full-length split-lid in-deck boxes, lockers under the covering boards for Glendinning Cablemasters and electric-reel outlets, and two Eskimo ice chippers. The cockpit is engineered for a Seakeeper 40 reached through a single centerline hatch with optional electric actuation, and the mezzanine has an air-conditioned aft-facing lounge, tackle and bait storage, refrigerated boxes and the engine room entrance.

Viking extended the flybridge wings across the full width of the deckhouse roof. The walkaround center console sits on an 8-inch teak platform with three Release Marine chairs, a teak helm pod and four flush 17-inch displays, with more electronics and teaser reels in drop-down boxes in the hardtop. A dedicated battery system and charger run the bridge electronics. Forward are air-conditioned lounges, dual bait freezers, a sink and a drink box.

The Enclosed Bridge version adds a climate-controlled second salon with an L-shaped lounge and a wraparound one-piece windshield over a five-display pod, reached by a ladder from the mezzanine or a staircase inside. The Sky Bridge stacks an open helm on top for owners who want both.

Five staterooms, six heads and a laundry

The interior is horizontal-grain walnut with ebony inlays in gloss or satin. A day head sits just inside the salon door to port, a U-shaped lounge faces a 65-inch pop-up TV, and the galley runs fore and aft with stone counters, Sub-Zero drawers, a dishwasher, cooktop and oven, a three-stool bar and a raised five-person dinette over a pull-out rod drawer. A walk-in pantry can become a third crew or guest berth.

Below, a private curved staircase leads to the full-beam master with a king walkaround bed, vanity, reading area and a head with double sinks. The VIP forward and a starboard guest cabin have walkaround queens, and two port cabins have upper and lower berths, one intended for crew next to the rod and tackle locker. Every cabin has its own head and shower, and a laundry center with a full-size stacked washer and dryer sits in the companionway. Chilled-water air conditioning runs through two 6-ton units.

The 2009 original, a different boat entirely

The first 82 was Viking's largest convertible when Power and Motoryacht tested it in 2009. It measured 83 feet 5 inches with a 22-foot 4-inch beam, weighed 162,250 pounds, carried three 1,000-gallon tanks plus an optional 600, and had a hull loosely derived from the 74 but convex forward and flatter aft, with 10 degrees of transom deadrise and deep prop pockets. With optional 2,400 hp MTU 16V2000 M93s it ran 38 knots, and the price as tested was $6,615,043. Standard power was Caterpillar's 1,825 hp C32 ACERT.

Power and Motoryacht later pointed out that this boat was really about 84 feet and 155,000 to 180,000 pounds depending on options, which suited Viking's many cruising owners better than hardcore anglers and led directly to the leaner 80 in 2015. First-generation 82s now ask about $4 million to $4.8 million, making them some of the cheapest five-stateroom tournament boats of their size.

What an 82 costs to own and run

Budget about $700,000 to $1.2 million a year for a new-generation 82 with a full-time captain and two mates, insurance, dockage for an 85-foot boat, MTU and generator service, Seakeeper upkeep and fuel. At Viking's figure of 206 gph at 36.7 knots, a 120-mile round trip to the fishing grounds burns around 700 gallons. Systems are designed for crews to maintain: Octoplex digital switching, Optimus electronic power steering, composite seacocks, seal-less ElectroSea pumps and an ElectroStrainer option to keep raw-water lines clean.