The Boats

Kindred Spirit #4:  

This blog has now become a “tale of three boats” — our 2nd Kindred Spirit, the Morgan 43 Center Cockpit, our 3rd Kindred Spirit, our first trawler, and now eight years after the blog began, we have our 4th (yes, fourth) Kindred Spirit, a Kadey Krogen 39, our final last boat.  😳😁

One thing we have enjoyed about having a Kadey Krogen is the sense of community surrounding these boats. There is a very active owners group called Krogen Cruisers as well as a FaceBook group, Kadey Ladies.

A bit of Kadey Krogen history: Yacht broker, Art Kadey, and naval architect, James S. Krogen, founded Kadey-Krogen Yachts in 1977. Kadey Krogen are long-range capable, recreational trawler yachts similar to historic fishing trawlers of the North Sea. The trawlers are full displacement boats, with good fuel economy. The boats are built at a dedicated yard in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and the company headquarters is in Stuart, Florida.

Kadey Krogens have ranged from 36 feet (the Manatee) to 58 footers. Our 39 is obviously one of the more petite Kadey Krogens.

Fifty-one Kadey Krogen 39s were built from 1998—2008. Our Kindred Spirit is a 2004, Hull #42.

From Kadey Krogen’s own description of the Krogen 39′ —

“A functional yet elegant trawler yacht ideal for couples or single-handers and their guests, the Krogen 39′ is perfectly suited for coastal cruising, long distance passages and countless adventures. Islands, oceans, rivers, straits, canals–every gentle mile will make you glad you fell in love with the cruising life. Whatever the journey or destination, with its economy of operation this was and is truly a value-laden passagemaker. Thanks to the superior design of Krogen’s PFD hull (Pure Full Displacement hull form), there isn’t a more sea kindly or efficient ride anywhere in this size range. The Krogen 39′ exudes confidence and continues to make dreams come true for many proud owners of this venerable Kadey-Krogen model.”

The Kadey Krogen 39 has only one cabin, but can sleep two more couples on pull-out berths in the pilot house and the salon. I found this quote from Jeff Holland to be rather amusing – “It’s really a guy’s kind of boat. Who else but a real guy would forego a second stateroom for a stand-up engine room with room for a workbench?” For us, I suppose this will be fine since we rarely have overnight guests. It would have been nice to have an extra room, but that stand up engine room is very seductive.

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE KADEY KROGEN 39:

L.O.A (length overall) = 43 feet, 8 inches which includes the transom and bow pulpit

L.W.L. (length at water line) = 36 feet, 8 inches

BEAM (width) = 14 feet, 2 inches

DRAFT (below the water depth) = 4 feet, 3 inches

DISPLACEMENT = 35,000 pounds

POWERED by a John Deere 4045 TFM50 4.5L, single four-cycle turbo-charged diesel engine with 120 horsepower.

FUEL CAPACITY: = Two epoxy-coated steel, 350-gallon diesel fuel tanks

WATER TANKS = 300 gallons

HOLDING TANK (new) = 45 gallons

Kindred Spirit‘s first 2020 test run —

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Kindred Spirit #3:

We purchased our trawler, a 2003 Mariner Orient 38 in July, 2014.  Mariner Yachts began importing yachts into the U.S. market in 2001. Mariners are designed and built by American, Canadian, and Chinese companies with manufacturing facilities based in mainland China. They were distributed in the U.S by Island Yacht Brokers on Kent Island, Maryland. And Kent Island is exactly where we found this one with only 600 hours on the engine.

We are often asked, what is a trawler? (by our non-marine friends).

Dictionary definition:    trawl·er      ˈtrôlər/
noun: trawler; plural noun: trawlers
a fishing boat used for trawling

Wikipedia clarifies the difference between a fishing trawler and a recreational trawler.  Recreational trawlers are pleasure boats which resemble fishing trawlers. They can also be called cruising trawlers or trawler yachts. Within the category, however, are many types and styles of vessels, from the basic and simple to very very expensive and well-equipped ones.

A fishing trawler for example, always has a displacement hull for load-carrying capacity. Traditional ones also have “arms” that extend out to stabilize the boat or to hold nets.

Recreational trawlers, on the other hand, are as likely to have a semi-displacement hull. The typical cruising speed of a recreational trawler is 7-9 knots depending on the boat length, with a maximum speed of 10-12 knots. Larger engines or twin engines can attain 14-20 knots.

In “Whiff of Workboat”  (Jan/Feb 2013 issue of PassageMaker ) Peter Swanson writes, “A trawler is a recreational vessel reminiscent of a workboat above the waterline, which appeals to buyers wanting to cruise at slow speeds, at least part of the time.”  The slow speed is what appeals to us former sailors. We aren’t really interested in fast speeds, just decent speeds.

Greg Parker responded with his own thoughts about trawlers, also in PassageMaker, and captured the essence of making this change —

“What is the trawler lifestyle? Quite simply, it is the sailors cruising lifestyle in a power boat.

What is the definition of a trawler? It is a power vessel that accommodates the cruising lifestyle.”

Features we liked:
• Aft deck with hard roof cover (shade and rain protection)
• Transom door to access swim platform
• The flybridge is a very cool place – great view!
• Door at the interior helm station
• Large comfortable and bright salon
• Centerline queen berth
• Head with a separate shower
• Guest cabin (bunk beds)
• Wide decks to walk forward
• Engine size – 220 Cummins, diesel

Follow along with the blog over the next year and you will see how Al transforms this trawler into another of his unique and special Kindred Spirits. 😉

Epilogue – We sold our Mariner 38 in October, 2019 to friends at our yacht club. It is quite nice to know that the boat will continue to be loved and cared for.

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Kindred Spirit #2: 

Although we no longer have our lovely Morgan, she deserves to forever remain a part of this page, thus the title, “The Boats“. This blog began in honor of our Bahama adventure on her during the fall/winter/spring of 2013-2014. We owned our 1987 43 foot Morgan Center Cockpit for 12 years, from February, 2002 until June, 2014. We enjoyed many years of cruising and sailing her in the New England waters as well as down the ICW and the Bahamas.