|
Shhh...
I’m listening intently as the standard twin 440-hp Yanmar diesels on the Krogen Express 52 run up from idle to WOT. You know what I hear? Only the 52’s sharp entry slicing through a one- to two-foot chop on New York’s Long Island Sound. I’m getting a 78 dB-A readout on my decibel meter at WOT (65 db-A is the level of normal conversation). The reason: an efficient Jim and Kurt Krogen hybrid displacement-semidisplacement hull design for sure. But it’s details like the AquaDrive engine–mounting system, an effective soundshield on the 12-kW Northern Lights genset, underwater exhausts, and enough Soundown insulation to quiet a thunderclap that separate okay from excellent.
The 52 is much more than quiet, as I find out this late-summer test day. I take over the helm from John Tegtmeyer, head of Krogen Express, grab hold of the massive destroyer wheel, which provides a strong feeling of control, and point the bow into the chop. I push the smooth ZF Mathers MicroCommander controls to WOT and note minimal bow rise; the 52’s trim angle never exceeds four degrees. The open flying bridge offers me 360 degrees of clean sightlines. The Hynautic hydraulic steering provides for real-time reaction when I’m turning the wheel, and one and a half to two boat-length turns are the norm, with minimal lean in either direction.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
|
This hybrid commuter-trawler, which features narrow commuter-boat-like lines and a trawler-like interior, has a soft-chine, full-displacement hull form forward that transforms into a hard-chine semidisplacement form aft of amidships. This shape then transitions into a flat five-degree deadrise at the stern, which helps reduce motion underway, on the hook, or while drifting. The seas aren’t challenging for the 52. She tracks true down-sea and simply ignores the chop head-on, but there is spray coming over the high-sided bowrails as a result of her limited flare (I’m 5'7", and those bowrails come up to my waist amidships and are thigh-high forward of the house). If there was more breeze right now (it’s blowing 10 to 15 mph), it might be time to throw on the Gill. The boat comes standard with a bimini top, but I’m told one 52 owner rigged his boat with an enclosure to prevent just such an occurrence. In addition, as the 52 sits beam-to, her roll is soft, and she recovers after a couple of seconds of gentle rocking thanks to her hard chines aft. She doesn’t have the weeble-wobble of many traditional trawlers.
Tracking true and offering a stable ride, the 52 is also showing me some get up and go, as my radar gun reads a top average speed of 26.9 mph at 3300 rpm and a comfortable cruise of 24.4 mph at 3000 rpm. It’s an impressive turn of speed considering her heavy build, which consists of a solid-fiberglass hull bottom, Airex-cored hull sides, and end-grain-balsa-cored decks and house. There’s more, however. When Tegtmeyer tells me the boat is designed to do even better with trim tabs, we give ‘em the ol’ college try. Sure enough, tabs add an extra .9 mph at 2750 rpm, an extra 1.2 mph at 3000 rpm, and an extra .7 mph at 3300 rpm. And, although speed and other changes at the remaining rpm settings prove less significant, we do cut our running attitude by one degree at 3000 rpm.
|
PAGES:
|
1
|
|
 |
|