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Explore the Krogen Express 52

The Cruising Yachtsman’s Trawler
  • Updated: May 8, 2015
A Q&A with Krogen Express Yachts’ principal John Tegtmeyer on the story beyond his popular yacht.
Where and how long has the yard been building yachts? Asia Harbor Yacht Builders (AHYB) has been building Krogen designs for over 20 years, and all of the Krogen Express 52s have been built by them. Owned by the Lin family, the yard is now overseen by Jeff Lin. The yard is located in the yacht building center of Taiwan, Kaohsiung, in the southern part of the island.
How many boats does it build per year? How many Krogen Expresses have been built to date? AHYB generally builds between 10 to 15 yachts per year. A total of 32 Krogen Express’ have been built, 16 generation one and 16 generation two.
What are some notable details on the hull design of the Krogen Express that differentiate it from other yachts? The Krogen Express is a collaborative design between Jim Krogen, the master hull designer, and his son Kurt, who did the styling. From an appearance standpoint, there is really nothing else like it in a production yacht. Very distinctive and head turning! The performance, seaworthiness and efficiency come from Jim’s hull design. The goal with a semidisplacement or semiplaning hull is to combine the best attributes of the displacement and planing hulls into one design that will deliver great fuel efficiency and a comfortable ride that is associated with the full displacement hull but not lock you into basically a one speed boat.
With the Krogen Express, the front half of the hull is basically a full-displacement design (soft chines, fine entry and high freeboard) and the aft half is like a lobster boat (hard chines, full keel and flat deadrise). Therefore, you can glide along at 8 knots and burn just 3 gallons per hour or cruise all day (or parts thereof) at 15-16 knots when that suits your goal for the day. Hull speed on the KE52 is 9.6 knots, so anything under that speed will yield you excellent economy but, at the 9- to 9.5-knot cruise that many of our owners often select, you will still get almost 2 nmpg while going 25 to 30% faster than a similar full-displacement hull normally runs.
What materials are used to construct the KE52? The KE52′ is constructed with a solid fiberglass hull below the waterline and PVC coring above the waterline. We use all PVC coring in the house, roof and decks – no wood! All vinylester resin in the hull layup to insure maximum protection from osmotic blistering complimented by a full barrier coat prior to bottom paint application. Kevlar is used in the layup in critical impact point on the hull for extra safety.
What level of customization is available on a Krogen Express? The KE52 is a production yacht built to custom-yacht standards. We can do some owner-driven customization within the general layout of the boat.
What is the build time for a Krogen Express 52? We generally say that from start to finish the expected time to delivery is about a year. We do the hull paint work, brightwork, navigational and entertainment electronics, interior decor, canvas work, etc. here just prior to delivery.
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