Make Your Boat Better: 44 Tips from Liveaboards - Kadey

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SEA MAGAZINE • VOLUME 107, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2015
Make Your Boat Better: 44 Tips from Liveaboards
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seamagazine.com FEBRUARY 2015
SEATRIAL
By Mike Werling
Krogen 44 AE
Advanced ergonomics
highlight a new model.
I
’ve tested a couple of Kadey-Krogen models now, and both times the boat
owners were aboard. And both times they made the experience better, speaking from a reviewer’s angle. It’s one thing to know what the builder views
as a yacht’s best features — and those features are usually the highlights —
but it’s another thing entirely to hear what the owners think are a yacht’s best
attributes, even if the list is pretty similar. So it was without hesitation that I
said “yes” when Dennis Lawrence of Kadey-Krogen’s Seattle office asked me if
it was OK if the Krogen 44 AE’s owners, Jeff and Darlene Gidley, went with us
on the sea trial.
Fantastic Features
The Krogen 44 AE replaces and
updates the Krogen 44, which was a
26-hull success for the builder. The AE
stands for Advanced Ergonomics, and
you’ll find the changes and improvements in various places on the yacht,
including the galley, the flybridge, the
salon, the staterooms and even the
cockpit.
34 Sea Magazine / February 2015
Let’s start in the galley of Mana Kai
(spirit of the sea), because that’s where
Darlene and I began our onboard
conversation. The four-burner stainless stove and microwave are on the
starboard bulkhead, at the bottom of
the U-shaped area. The refrigerator/
freezer, which is larger than on the
previous model, opens to port, which
means it doesn’t jut into the workspace
when it’s open — a nice ergonomic
feature for the chef. The Gidleys took
things a step further with a low-energy
refrigerator from Sun Frost, a manufacturer that designs appliances for use
with solar, hydro or wind power; their
appropriateness on boats is a beneficial side effect. It uses at least 20
percent less electricity than a couple
of similar-sized units I compared it
to. Darlene said they’re “designed for
living off the grid.”
Things on galley countertops tend to
move around a bit in heavier seas, so a
rail is a smart idea. On Mana Kai, the
rail is fashioned from the same granite
the countertops are, creating a functional and beautiful apparatus.
A lot of cruisers I’ve talked to enjoy
watching the sunset from the cockpit or the flybridge, with a glass of
their favorite red or white wine. The
Krogen designers have taken that into
account, equipping the 44 AE with a
built-in wine storage rack under the
salon settee (an L-shaped benchtype sofa situated around a high-low
dining table in the aft starboard corner
of the salon). Yes, it can be used for
Krogen 44 AE is all about comfort and flow, which is evident throughout the yacht, from the galley’s
easy accessibility to everything a chef needs to the pilothouse’s comfortable captain’s chair and
companion settee to the walk-in engine room and much more.
other things, but why? Across from
the dinette are two recliners that can
easily be pulled over to share a meal
at the table.
Owners Will Love
Yachts like the Krogen 44 AE are
meant to be taken long distances,
which translates to a lot of time at the
helm getting from Point A to Point D
(points B and C are far too near). To
make that time more pleasurable, the
designers made sure the pilothouse
and the flybridge would be appealing
to folks who aren’t driving the yacht.
Situated at the helm (described below)
is a single Lebroc captain’s chair, and
to either side of the dash is room for
paper charts. Grabrails in the header
and on the face of the chart tables
ensure steady passage in rough seas.
Aft of the helm chair are a raised settee
and a table, a comfortable spot for
passengers to sit and keep the captain
company. Watertight Dutch doors to
either side make it simple to get to
either side of the yacht to check on a
docking situation or to move about the
vessel on the ample sidedecks. The four
of us aboard for the sea trial occupied
the pilothouse at the same time without feeling crowded.
The flybridge helm, equipped with
a single Furuno multifunction screen,
an engine display, a VHF radio, engine
controls and more, is situated to starboard
under the Bimini. A settee with a table
occupies the forward port corner, and
owners can add an optional companion
chair next to the captain’s. There is room
aft for a dinghy up to 13 feet. Access to the
bridge is via a ladder from the cockpit and
another from the port sidedeck.
Belowdecks
To port of the galley are two sets
of stairs. One leads to the pilothouse,
and the other heads belowdecks, where
you’ll find two staterooms and a head.
Or will you? On our test boat, the
Gidleys opted for two staterooms, but
the option exists to turn the second
room into a den/office, which might
be something liveaboards or remotely
working cruisers would choose. If you
choose to make the second space a
stateroom, you can choose between a
queen berth (the case on Mana Kai)
or Jack and Jill berths. A deep locker
provides storage in either scenario, and
the queen bed has storage underneath.
The master stateroom is in the bow.
Its queen island berth is easily accessible via a step-up to either side, and
underneath the bed is drawer storage at the foot and tons more when
the mattress base is lifted. A couple of
hanging lockers, a built-in bureau and
cabinets beside the berth take storage
to its maximum effect. Reading lamps
and a couple of overhead LEDs provide
ample light, but four opening portholes
SeaMagazine.com 35
and a hatch let in additional natural
light and stamp out stuffiness.
Completing the belowdecks accommodations is a shared head at the base
of the stairs and a washer/dryer in a
companionway closet. The stairway
lifts upward to reveal walk-in access
to the engine room, another ergonomic touch that will please active
DIY owners.
Performance
A beautiful Seattle day meant there
was very little challenge for the 44 AE
on Lake Washington, but we did what
Other Notable
Features
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Cherry wood throughout the interior
Huge lazarette
TV in aft port corner (out of the way)
Full headroom at the foot of the master
berth
LED lighting throughout
Walk-through cockpit boarding doors
Bow settee
we could, looking for boat wakes and
creating our own to test the trawler.
One thing I know is the 44 AE tracks
true, maintaining a straight course
through small waves and moderate
wakes. It responds quickly to helm
input, changing course on command,
and the wooden ship-style wheel turns
easily from lock to lock. The helm is
nicely outfitted with displays, gauges,
throttles and other equipment. Front
36 Sea Magazine / February 2015
and center are two Furuno TZ Touch
14 multifunction displays that are
more than capable of keeping you
informed and safe, displaying everything from charts to radar to engine
room cameras.
Mana Kai is the first of the new
Krogens to have the Tier III John
Deere 4045AFM85 diesel, a four-cylinder 4.5L that puts out 160 hp (the
same horsepower the previous six-cylinder engine put out). That engine, in
addition to having the vaunted John
Deere reliability, is fuel efficient. At
our top test speed of 9.1 knots (other
tests I’ve seen got to 9.9), 2350 rpm,
the John Deere was burning 7.4 gph,
yielding a range of about 980 miles,
with a small reserve (50 gallons, for
ease of math) in the 850-gallon tanks.
Slow down to 1750 rpm and 7.9 knots,
and fuel burn diminishes to 3.5 gph.
Range at that speed is about 1,800
miles. Take things down to 6 knots,
1250 rpm, and the fuel burn is a miniscule 1 gph, which stretches the range to
about 4,800 miles (though you want to
factor in a larger reserve covering that
kind of distance).
While we just cruised the waters
of Lake Washington, which, unfortunately doesn’t qualify me to expound
on the Krogen’s ocean-keeping ability,
I don’t need to look any further than
the pages of Sea’s October 2014 issue to
get an endorsement of Krogens’ openocean prowess. In that issue, we ran
a story about Ken and Patty Sebby (A
Spot on the Ocean, p. 16), who crossed
from Mexico to the Marquesas — and
eventually to Australia — in a Krogen

spec box
LOA 49 ft.
Beam 16 ft., 4 in.
Draft 4 ft., 6 in.
Displacement 43,140 lbs.
Fuel 850 gal.
Water 300 gal.
Engine John Deere 4045AFM85 Tier III,
160 hp
Price See dealer
Standard & Optional
Equipment
Consult with a dealer.
Builder
Kadey-Krogen Yachts, Stuart, Fla.;
(772) 286-0171; kadeykrogen.com
West Coast Dealer
Kadey-Krogen, Seattle; (206) 453-5631;
kadeykrogen.com
42, which is the predecessor to the 44
AE’s predecessor. I’ll let that speak to
the builder’s record of long-range cruising success.
As former sailors, the Gidleys wanted
to keep cruising without hurry but in
greater comfort than they were accustomed to. “We wanted to be warm
and dry,” Darlene said, “and be able to
have a cup of coffee in the pilothouse.”
In the Krogen 44 AE, they found their
on-the-water companion with which to
keep chasing the spirit of the ocean.