The Viking Yacht Company has announced that it is building four new 50-footers. The 50 Convertible leads the way, with three additional vessels to follow: the Billfish, Sport Coupe/Sport Tower and Open Express.
The 50 Convertible shares many design traits with the larger Vikings: a flush foredeck for increased safety, a modified upper chine and aggressive strakes for improved spray deflection and a dry ride, stylish feature lines on the hull, deckhouse, and bridge and recessed salon windows highlighted with radiused perimeters.
The flybridge features a streamlined walkaround center console with a recessed black acrylic dash holding two 22-inch touchscreen multifunction displays. The captain has excellent sightlines to the cockpit, and a dropdown electronics box can be integrated into the fiberglass hardtop, just forward of another space dedicated for teaser reels.
The 50 Billfish will be the fourth and largest of the Billfish series, a line which was introduced in 2017 and designed for fishing-focused owners looking for sporty, easily maintained yachts. The Sport Coupe and Sport Tower are designed for cruising and fishing, with the cockpit and a command deck with a three-sided glass enclosure, including an optional aft bulkhead. The Sport Tower incorporates a Palm Beach Towers tuna tower into the Sport Coupe design. The Open features a command deck immediately accessible to the cockpit, built with a one-piece wraparound windshield and hardtop; this model is also available with a PBT tower. The new series of 50-footers will be powered by either standard 1,000 hp or optional 1,200 hp MAN engines.
“No one else in the industry can match our quality and versatility,” says Viking President and CEO Pat Healey. “We have the best team of designers, engineers and boatbuilders in the industry. This series of the 50 is going to be an incredible achievement, and one we know our owners will be very pleased with.”
The world premiere of the first model—the three-stateroom 50 Convertible—is planned for the 2025 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
