Kadey-Krogen, the Full-Displacement Trawler Liveaboards Swear By

Art Kadey, Jim Krogen and the 42 that started it

Kadey-Krogen grew out of a partnership between Art Kadey and naval architect Jim Krogen, who formalized the company in 1977 to build one design, the Krogen 42. Krogen had drawn it a few years earlier with North Sea fishing boats in mind: a fine bow, round bilges, a full keel guarding the propeller and a single slow-turning diesel, with range counted in thousands of miles. Kadey died in 1981 and Krogen in 1994, and the business then passed through Krogen's family and partners until John Gear, Larry Polster and Tom Button bought it in 2006.

From 1991 the hulls came from a Kaohsiung yard set up to build only Krogens, while sales were handled directly from Stuart, Florida, with further offices in Annapolis, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and Seattle. Krogen owners have taken their boats across three oceans, and the company reckoned that as many as three in four of them lived aboard for at least part of the year.

Three generations, the 42, the 44 AE and the 52

We cover three Krogens that trace the brand from its origins to its last years. The Kadey-Krogen 42 is the founding model, launched in 1976 and built until 1998, with 206 hulls completed. It runs at about 7 knots on a single Ford Lehman, carries two staterooms and two heads, and is now the affordable entry to the brand, with many boats needing attention to tanks, decks and wiring after decades of use.

The Kadey-Krogen 44 AE came out of the newer Advanced Ergonomics thinking that started with the Krogen 48 AE in 2011. Arriving in 2012 as a heavily revised version of an earlier Krogen 44, it gained dozens of detail changes for a couple handling the boat alone: safer side decks, a practical pilothouse and a single John Deere with deep tanks for long legs at displacement speed.

At the top of what we cover sits the Kadey-Krogen 52, previewed in 2010 as a smaller sister to the Krogen 58 and built on new tooling by Asia Harbor Yacht Builders. At almost 58 feet overall it is a genuine ocean passagemaker, with a Portuguese bridge, wing stations, 1,400 gallons of fuel for about 3,300 nautical miles at 7 knots, and an office below that can become a third stateroom. Twin engines were available for owners who wanted redundancy offshore.

None of these boats is meant to plane. They reward owners who cruise slowly and far, and anyone who wants 15 knots should shop a different brand.

• Kadey-Krogen 42 (1976 to 1998), the original single-engine trawler
• Kadey-Krogen 44 AE (from 2012), a couple's long-range cruiser
• Kadey-Krogen 52, the ocean-going pilothouse flagship of our coverage

Buying a Krogen after the 2026 bankruptcy reports

Krogens have traditionally held value well, helped by a devoted owner base and regular rendezvous. That picture changed in July 2026, when Power & Motoryacht reported that the builder planned a Chapter 7 filing and was no longer producing boats, and the company website went dark. Until the situation is clear, buyers should assume no factory warranty or parts help, confirm the position of any hull still under construction, and line up independent yards, owner groups and component makers for support.

The good news is that Krogens use mainstream engines, gears and systems, so day-to-day servicing is not a problem. Used prices span a wide range, from roughly $140,000 for a tired 42 to more than $2 million for a recent 52, which makes a careful survey essential at every level.

• Fuel tank condition and age, especially black iron tanks on older 42s
• Teak decks, deck core and window leaks
• Engine hours, cooling system and exhaust on the main and any wing engine
• Stabilizer service history and fin seal condition
• Rudder, shaft and cutless bearing wear
• Electrical upgrades, inverter systems and generator hours on liveaboard boats