This past September, Kadey-Krogen Yachts took Hull No. 1 of its 60 Open out for sea trials off the coast of Taiwan. Conditions were challenging with 20- to 25-knot winds and seas to match and the boat performed as expected.
“We hit all out of our numbers and the boat handled really well,” said Ford Bauer, marketing director for Kadey-Krogen, before the start of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The first and second builds of the new model are already sold and Hull No. 1 is expected to make it to the U.S. in December. The first two versions of the boat are going to owners who are transitioning from sailboats to power.
The flagship for the Kadey-Krogen line, the 60 Open came about because of customer demand after the successful introduction of the open concept in the 50 Open.
“The layout is different from the raised pilothouse boats we’ve been building for 50 years,” said Bauer.
The 60 will feature the same open living concept as the 50 with a seamless connection between the salon and galley area in the pilothouse. A retractable door can be employed to separate the two primary interior areas.
With the added volume that comes from the bigger boat, a day head can be added to the 60 Open. Below decks, the en suite master is placed amidships. Thanks to the boat’s 19-foot, 6-inch beam, there’s plenty of room on each side of the king-sized berth. Buyers can choose myriad layouts on the accommodations deck including a three-stateroom, three-head plan with a convertible office area. Most Kadey-Krogen owners are also the operators, but a crew cabin can be added abaft the engine compartment.
That engine room has stand-up headroom and houses twin John Deere diesel inboards. Kadey-Krogen has always prided itself on supplying what’s needed for long-distance cruising without cluttering the engine bay with unnecessary frills. The equipment that is on board is laid out for accessibility and ease of maintenance.
Standard equipment of note on the 60 Open includes a Northern Lights 20KW generator, a 30-gallon Torrid water heater, twin 225-gallon stainless-steel water tanks and a 140-gallon fiberglass holding tank. Fuel capacity is 1,800 gallons in twin tanks.
The electrical system consists of 110/220-volt AC and 12/24-volt DC panels with circuit breakers and tinned strand wire throughout. Lifeline AGM batteries are contained in fiberglass boxes. Two 12-volt units are wired in series for 24-volt DC engine starting. Another is dedicated for starting the generator and 12 6-volt 400-amp-hour batteries are wired in series for 24-volt DC ship service.
Mastervolt inverter/chargers keep the batteries fed and Balmar alternators are rated at 190 amps each. At the bow, a Maxwell 4000 VWC windlass manages the 12-pound Rocna Vulcan anchor.
Kadey-Krogen laminates the 60 Open with Cook gelcoat followed by hand-laid Knytex fiberglass mat with Corecell closed-cell pvc sandwich-core foam above the waterline. For improved strength without adding weight, the manufacturer uses Twaron, the same fiber that’s used in body armor to make it bullet-proof. It’s up to five times stronger than steel and up to 60 percent lighter than the metal. Kadey-Krogen says its focus on materials and weight-savings construction techniques give its boats up to 40 percent more fuel-efficiency.
Below the waterline, the hull bottom is laid up with solid fiberglass. The bow and stern are reinforced with Aramid fibers. The superstructure includes Knytex, Corecell cores and surface mats to prevent print-through. The aft and side decks are finished in teak while the boat and foredecks have GripTex nonskid. Bulkheads are constructed with vacuum-bagged coring and stringers have fiberglass hat sections.
The hull bottom is prepped and painted with two coats of Sea Hawk epoxy primer and two coats of Sea Hawk Cukote anti-fouling paint in dark blue. Running gear is finished with PropOne two-coat paint while the flagstaffs are finished in eight coats of varnish.
Weather-tight welded aluminum doors are used in the pilothouse and at both ends of the engine compartment. The sliding salon door has a full glass panel and windows are fixed with tinted, tempered half-inch thick glass. The windshield is clear glass. Foredeck hatches are from Lewmar with Oceanair Skyscreen and shades, while portals are framed in stainless steel and have screens.
Aft, the cockpit has teak decking and the transom door and twin side boarding gates have stainless-steel hardware. The swim platform has an undermount swim ladder and two folding cleats. To keep salt and sand out of the cockpit, there’s a freshwater transom shower. Twin 50-amp outlets make it easy to connect to shore power.
The flying bridge includes a Stidd Slimline Admiral helm chair and an Edson stainless-steel steering wheel. There’s a propane locker with space for two 20-pound tanks. For entertaining, the 60 Open has a summer kitchen with a grill, wetbar with a refrigerator and seating around teak tables.
In the salon, the Ultraleather L-shaped lounge has storage in the base and there’s a cherry fold-out table. The galley has a stainless-steel sink with a Grohe faucet and countertops are Silestone quartz. Appliances include a Wolf microwave oven and propane range plus a Subzero refrigerator.
In the standard layout, the accommodations include three staterooms with the aforementioned amidships master forward VIP cabin with a queen berth in the bow and guest quarters to port with twin bunks.
The 60 Open’s command center includes a Ritchie compass, rudder angle indicator, Stidd Slimline helm seat in a choice of colors and cherry electronics console.
The twin 200-bhp John Deere diesels are paired with ZF Marine transmissions with 3:1 gear ratios and 2” diameter Aquamet 22 propeller shafts. Propellers are 33-inch diameter Hung Shen four-blade bronze and the stainless-steel rudders have protective shoes. During sea trials, Kadey-Krogen had a range of 5,367 miles at 6 knots, 4,005 miles at 7 knots, 2,254 miles at 8 knots and 1,760 miles at 9 knots.
While the interior concept is new, Kadey-Krogen sticks with its design approach of maintaining architectural integrity. Each model from the manufacturer starts with a Pure Full Displacement hull, originally developed by James S. Krogen, that has optimal displacement-to-length ratios, a fine entry and end-to-end symmetry. n