I once knew a guy who spent a New England winter living in a marina aboard a 24-foot sailboat. At the time, that sounded sort of romantic to me. But the reality likely was, he suffered. No measure of introspective solitude, intimate contact with the marine environment, or independence from lawnmowers and mortgage payments could overcome the cold, damp, cramped quarters or the lack of basic amenities such as heat, hot water, or the ability to share the space with a friend—even a cat.
Such trifles would not be a problem on the new Krogen 60 Open. Despite having similar length and beam dimensions as its raised pilothouse sister, the Krogen 58 EB, which sat in the adjacent slip at the Palm Beach boat show this past spring, the 60 feels substantially larger. It does have a slightly taller profile, but it also carries about 20 percent more interior volume and a bit more headroom than the 58.
That volume and headroom were apparent the moment I stepped across the threshold from the cockpit into the salon. On the Open, I encountered a clear line of sight all the way forward to the windscreen. If you’re the type who feels cramped on a typical raised pilothouse trawler, this boat is a pleasant surprise. With the 60 Open, Kadey-Krogen has created a bright, spacious, well-found long-haul cruiser that will lay down the miles or serve as an able dockside liveaboard platform.
The three-stateroom 60 is an evolution of the two-stateroom 50 Open, which the builder introduced in 2017. The 60 also has optional crew quarters. One stateroom can be configured as an office, as the owners of hull number one chose to do.
These opens are a departure from the iconic raised pilothouse models the company has built for some 50 years. The designation refers to the main deck, where the salon, galley, and bridge are integrated. With the raised pilothouse, they are essentially separate spaces.
“We started with the 50 Open, which was really two cabins,” says Kadey-Krogen Group President and CEO Tucker West. “We tried to squeeze in a third cabin, which we kind of did successfully, but we just had people who wanted more room, and they had more money to spend. This is set up with two cabins and an office. We could do a four-cabin model of this. Initially we talked about going to a 55, but we didn’t think it was a big enough jump.”
The Kadey-Krogen folks said the owners of the boat we saw in Palm Beach were planning to retire, live aboard part-time in Florida, and do some ambitious cruising. They’re moving over from a production cruising sailboat. The 60 Open is their first powerboat.
“They’re going to have a training captain initially, but not long term,” says Fran Morey, Kadey-Krogen Group production manager. “As soon as their skill level comes up to where they’re comfortable, they’ll lose the crew. They’re going to do coastal New England in the summer. And as they grow longer legs, they’ll start going farther. They’ve talked Europe and other places: Bahamas, Caribbean. I thought I heard Alaska. So they really wanted something that could go anywhere.”
Living aboard a boat can test the structural integrity of any family unit. But the arrangement and amenities on the 60, coupled with its perceived and real volume, make it easy to imagine a harmonious existence for all aboard.
The main-deck salon has space for small-group entertaining. The adjacent galley is fitted with a 30-inch Wolf stove and oven, a deep single-basin sink, a GE microwave, a full-height side-by-side Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer, and a wine chiller. A clever “appliance garage” (or as I saw it, a “blender dock”) emerges on demand from the sprawling Silestone countertop. An electrically actuated TV rises athwartships from the galley backsplash and a retractable slider extends out from the cabin wall to the TV, effectively separating the bridge deck and the salon, should the helmsman want relief from the party or gaming teens. Up a single step, the centerline helm shares space with a sofa, a cocktail table, and a day head.
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In keeping with the theme of big, bright, and airy, the exterior spaces on the 60 are overly generous. The cockpit is intimate, under cover, and suitable for dining or all-weather sundowners with a few friends. The flybridge is another story. It’s easy to imagine a party with 20 or so guests being comfortable. A sofa that could seat a dozen of them lines the port side under cover of the hardtop. A RIB fits nicely on the open after part of the deck, either fore and aft or athwartships; if it’s in the water, the party can grow.
Accommodations are equally spacious. The amidships, full-beam master has an island king berth, hanging lockers, a bureau, and a head with a shower and twin sinks. Oversize rectangular opening ports feel more like picture windows. The VIP stateroom in the bow has an island queen, a head with a shower, drawers, and a hanging locker. Stowage is a particularly strong point throughout the boat.
The office on hull number one lies between the VIP and master. It features a settee, a workstation, and sliding panels that can be closed for privacy or to convert the space for sleeping. The interior of hull number one is finished in cherry veneer. Walnut is available, but the cheerier cherry creates a brighter vibe and adds a more contemporary flair.
Interior access to the engine room is through the master. Like the rest of the boat, the space is unusually capacious. Twin 200-horsepower John Deere diesels are here, along with the requisite fuel and oil systems. The standard 20-kW Northern Lights generator is in an adjacent workspace aft, where the crew quarters would be if an owner wanted that. Access to all the mechanicals is excellent, and, as with the rest of the boat, headroom is NBA-grade. “The engine room on the 50 is massive,” says Ford Bauer, Kadey-Krogen Group marketing coordinator. “The engine room on this boat is even bigger.”
Construction is hardy. The topsides and superstructure are hand-laid Knytex fiberglass with a Corecell PVC sandwich core. Below the waterline, the hull is solid fiberglass with blister-resistant vinylester resin utilized on the first two laminates, with aramid fiber/FRP reinforcements.
Hull number one is equipped with optional fin stabilizers, and with bow and stern thrusters from ABT-Trac. The standard equipment list is extensive, but there is plenty of room aboard for options. The 60s are wired and plumbed for watermakers and are set up for solar, which is becoming a popular add-on.
According to Kadey-Krogen, with the standard John Deeres, the 60 tops out at about 11 knots and has an efficient cruise of 8 to 9 knots. Range at 8 knots is listed as 2,254 miles.
I don’t know what became of my solo liveaboard acquaintance, but if he built a successful career and stayed in boating, I can imagine him spending retirement with his wife on a boat like the Krogen 60, enjoying all the comforts of a mobile waterborne condominium—with plenty of space for two cats, and maybe a dog.
Krogen 60 Open Specifications:
LOA: 63’1”
Beam: 19’6”
Draft: 5’8”
Displ.: 120,000 lb.
Fuel: 1,800 gal.
Water: 450 gal.
Power: 2/200-hp John Deere 4045AFM85
This article originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
