Designed for Long-Range Cruising in Style and Comfort

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cial-grade equipment — even a top TV chef would be happy with the equipment — and there’s plenty of shelf and drawer storage. There is one galley feature that, while not unique to Kadey, is seldom found on other vessels in this size Tester’s Opinion: Kadey-Krogen’s well-known tag line is “At Home on Any Sea,” and that has applied to its range of trawler models, and the latest vessel is no exception. There’s no doubt the new 52 would be at home on any sea, operating equally well as a coastal cruiser or a bluewater passage-maker. There aren’t many powerboats that can do that. 28 Sea Magazine / october 2012 Kadey-Krogen’s new 52 is a full-displacement trawler that can be configured with an open office belowdecks (left). All seven buyers so far have opted for the open office. range: a Dutch door leading directly from the galley to the sidedeck. While this makes loading and unloading supplies and equipment much easier than trekking them through the salon, it also means the cook can get cool, fresh air in the galley, and the salon roof overhang provides protection from the rain if the door is open during inclement weather. All the doors on our test vessel are Dutch type, in that the top half of the doors can be opened without having to open the bottom half. Boaters who have been on board vessels with this system will understand that this is a great feature, particularly if the doors are fitted with hardware that allows them to be held open only slightly. Our test boat doors do not have that feature — the doors have to be wide open or completely closed. The pilothouse, reached from the salon or through port and starboard pilothouse doors, is comfortable and a great place for the skipper and guests to simply hang out. Visibility is excellent all around (much like in the salon), the helm seats and settee are comfortable, and there’s so much window glass that the interior is bright, even on dull days. The helm is well laid out, so all of the instruments are easy to see and reach. Forward visibility is excellent with very little bow “sight” shadow. Side doors provide good ventilation. The cabins and the open office are forward and down four steps from the salon. The forward master features a raised island queen berth, with both bulk and drawer storage underneath. An en suite head features a separate shower stall and plenty of storage. The spec box LOA 57 ft., 9 in. Beam (over rubrail) 17 ft., 9 in. Draft (single engine) 5 ft., 5 in. (half load) Draft (twin engine) 4 ft., 6 in. (half load) Displacement 70,000 lbs. (half load) Fuel 1,400 gals. Water 400 gals. Engines Twin John Deere 4045 TFM75, 121 hp each Price, as tested $1,385,000 CONSTRUCTION Solid fiberglass below the waterline with blister-resistant vinylester resin utilized on first two laminates below the waterline, with aramid fiber/FRP reinforcements. Hand-laid Knytex fiberglass construction with closedcell PVC sandwich core used in topsides. STANDARD EQUIPMENT John Deere 6068 AFM75 diesel, 231 hp, Northern Lights generator, wing engine control stations w/optional thruster controls, Pompanette helm chair, Ritchie compass, Maxwell windlass, saltwater anchor washdown, Racor fuel filters, inverter/battery charger, Raritan 20-gal. water heater, 2 toilets, 2 molded showers, Corian countertops, Imtra lighting and much more. OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT Twin John Deere 4045 TFM engines, 121 hp, American Bow Thruster w/proportional controls, stabilizers, Steelhead ES1000 davit, aft deck convenience cabinet w/sink and Glendinning CableMaster, air conditioning, fuel-polishing system, fire-suppression system in engine room, Stidd helm seat and much more. BUILDER Kadey-Krogen Yachts, Stuart, Fla.; (772) 286-0171; kadeykrogen.com WEST COAST DEALER Kadey-Krogen, Seattle; (206) 453-5631; kadey-krogen.com guest stateroom is to starboard at the bottom of the stairs and across from the office. The open office is another Krogen design feature that is proving very popular. Many vessels in this size range have an office, but it’s usually just a small
stateroom walled off from the companionway. While that works well, it can create a claustrophobic office for some. Krogen simply does away with the wall, so the view includes the companionway forward, making for a much larger visual space while still providing a fully functioning office. It is so popular that every 52 buyer so far has opted for the open-office layout. Fire It Up Our test 52 is equipped with twin John Deere 121 hp 4045 TFM engines. These four-cylinder, turbocharged, 275-cubic-inch (4.5L) engines are small and lightweight, tipping the scales at just a tad more than 1,000 pounds. They flashed up quickly with no smoke or rattling. As the engines warmed up at idle, about 700 rpm, I went into the salon, right above the engine spaces, with my noisemeter, and the noise level was the same as a normal conversation, 70 decibels. At 1000 revs, the sound level dropped to 66 decibels and never reached more than 73 during our entire test, and that was at wide-open throttle. The 52 is a very quiet boat. We eased away from the dock, and at 1000 revs we were burning a total of 1.6 gph while making 5.1 knots. At 1300 rpm, we made 6.4 knots and burned 2.2 gph. We burned 3 gph at 1600 revs and achieved 7.5 knots. At 8.2 knots, the engines were spinning at 1800 rpm and burning 4.2 gph. When we stepped up the rpm to 2000, we made 8.9 knots and burned 6.4 gph. When we ran at 2200 revs, we made 9.4 knots and burned 8.8 gph. WOT was just under 2500 rpm, which yielded 10 knots. Speeds were calculated by an independent, GPS and fuel consumption information came from the engines’ onboard computers. When we finished our speed runs, we put the starboard engine in neutral and let it idle. We then engaged the port engine and ran it at 1500 rpm. That produced 5.9 knots with a fuel burn of 1.7 gph. We throttled up to 2000 rpm and were making 7.5 knots and burning 3.7 gph. At WOT on the port engine alone — 2406 rpm — we made 8.5 knots and burned 6.6 gph. To get to 7.5 knots running two engines, we ran at 1600 revs but burned only 3 gph. Clearly one engine had to operate at a much higher output to produce the same speed as two, which is not uncommon when twin-engine vessels operate on only one engine. We then put the boat hard astern, and with the rudder centered we topped out at 6.4 knots, and the vessel remained almost dead straight as we backed down, showing no bad habits during this exercise. Kadey-Krogen’s well-known tag line is “At Home on Any Sea,” and that has applied to its range of trawler models, and the latest vessel is no exception. There’s no doubt the new 52 would be at home on any sea, operating equally well as a coastal cruiser or a blue-water passage-maker. There aren’t many powerboats that can do that. SeaMagazine.com 29
Page 1 and 2: Sea magazine • Volume 104, No. 10
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