A New Outboard Class Takes the Stage

C48 Open Main Deck Courtesy Princess Yachts

For Princess Yachts, this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show carries more weight  than the usual fall showcase. The X90 arrives fresh off its unveiling at the Cannes Yachting Festival, and the C48 makes its world premiere. James Nobel, Vice President and Marketing Director of Princess Yachts America, has been preparing for this pairing for years. 

“This is a significant show for us,” Nobel says. “It’s the culmination of a number of things.”

World premieres don’t often happen for Princess in the U.S. market. In the 31 years since Princess Yachts America was formed, the first hull of a new model has debuted stateside only twice before, in the V65 and the S72. A third exception, the X95,  was introduced on American shores as a result of the pandemic. 

C48 Open Helm Layout Courtesy Princess Yachts

The C48, then, is only the third true U.S. world premiere in the company’s history, and it arrives after a more involved build process. Yachts built to American specifications require more labor hours and engineering than standard European builds from Princess.

Princess’s First Outboard, and a New Class

The C48 breaks new ground for the company. In 61 years of building boats, Princess has never put an outboard on the transom, until now. The shift results in a model tailored for buyers who want the agility and easy serviceability of outboard power in a luxury dayboat that features the Princess fit and finish. The model is the first in the new C-Class line. The open-deck C48 will be followed by a C48 Deck Salon with an enclosed layout for extended cruising; that model will debut in about a year. Princess intends to keep growing the C-Class series with additional models in the years ahead.

Since 1984, Bernard Olesinski has designed Princess hulls from the waterline up, working alongside the builder’s in-house design team led by Andy Lawrence, and more than 100 engineers and in-house naval architects. Outboard propulsion, though, is new to the Princess wheelhouse, so the builder brought in Michael Peters as a consultant. Peter has shaped the running surfaces for Valhalla Boatworks, working alongside Naval Architect David Wilson and Viking Yachts President Pat Healey. 

C48 Open Main Deck Layout Courtesy Princess Yachts

The boat took roughly five years to develop, with dealer feedback taken into consideration at every stage along the way. It’s a process Nobel says was worth the extra time, precisely because the C48 is a departure from a standard Princess. It’s a new hull shape, a new propulsion system, and a new customer to design for, all at once.

“We had all our dealers over to the factory [in Plymouth] to see an early mockup,” Nobel said. “The team wanted to get it right before bringing it to market.”

Princess Yachts America has spent decades shaping how it designs for U.S. buyers.
Early on, the company would develop a European model first, and then Americanize it for U.S. buyers. “Today, the U.S. market is at the forefront of design approach,” says Nobel. 

C48 Open at Anchor Courtesy Princess Yachts

That practice has been applied to the C48 and X90. At FLIBs, those models will be displayed stern-in specifically to emphasize that point. It’s an al fresco emphasis that’s tailored to American boating habits. The builder will display a total of eight  models at the show this year.

What’s Next

Princess isn’t slowing down after the Fort Lauderdale show. The F55 (announced last year as the F54 before growing during development) heads to the 2027 Miami International Boat Show next. The Odyssey range, Princess’s superyacht category, is expanding too. 

The company’s momentum comes, Nobel argues, from resisting an industry-wide urge to pull back. 

“This comes at a time when a lot of industries are looking at either big transformations or the end of the line with AI,” Nobel says. “This company continues to invest in products and people. That’s what they’ve done for 61 years.”

Nobel credits Princess’s distribution for making that range possible. Viking has served as Princess’s exclusive North American distributor since the two family-run companies created a partnership in 1995. The combined portfolio of offshore sportfishing convertibles, outboard center consoles, and British-built flybridge yachts spans a wide range. 

A Family Business, Still

The Fort Lauderdale show opens just weeks after the passing of David King, one of Princess Yachts’ three original founders. King stepped away from day-to-day leadership years ago, but never stopped steering product development. Nobel calls him “the British Bill Healey,” a comparison rooted in King’s own hands-on expertise and humility. 

The reference lands with weight this year. Viking co-founder William “Bill” J. Healey, known industry-wide for walking the yard daily and greeting workers by name, died in December 2025 at 97, less than a year before King’s own passing.

At the S72 launch during the 2023 Palm Beach International Boat Show, Nobel recalls, King humbly pulled him aside to ask what the market was saying and what customers wanted to see differently. “That’s a real testament to why Princess gets to where they are,” Nobel says.

Princess Yachts America’s has also been investing in owner events, which continue to grow. For instance, a 2012 gathering in Key West drew six boats, compared with 62 yachts at the Ocean Reef event this spring and 44 at Block Island in July. These gatherings brought together 200 to 300 Princess customers. As Nobel says, that reveals something a spec sheet does not. 

“This is why we don’t just say ‘this is a great boat’ and build another one,” Nobel says. “Every model is an evolution. We keep the core DNA and build on it, and we’ve built a wonderful community as a result.”

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