We are cruising on a 1984  Kadey Krogen, that is 42′ in length. We have two staterooms, two heads and a separate pilothouse, or driving station (some boats, like our previous trawler, have driving stations in the salon area).

Sea Life holds 300 gallons of water, weighs 44,000 pounds (that doesn’t include fuel and all of our stuff!) and holds 700 gallons of fuel. Our single 120 horsepower diesel motor burns approximately 1.5 gallons a hour, traveling at 6.8 knots (or approximately 7.3 mph).  Full tanks will get us 2,800 nautical miles, or from Baltimore to Panama before filling up (also allowing us to cross the Atlantic without carrying extra fuel).

Like a house, we have creature comforts on board: heat and air, showers and toilets, a refrigerator and freezer, tv and an ice machine (a big perk for Scott). My stove and oven are heated with propane, as is the grill in our cockpit.

While underway, we have several options for power. We can run our generator, but we try to minimize this option, to reduce fuel and wear and tear. Our battery bank  is charged by a large solar array on top of our pilot house (660 watts). The batteries provide 12 volts of dc power (like your car), for running our lights, fans, etc. We have an inverter, that converts dc power to ac power (like in your house), allowing us to run things like a microwave, hair dryer, toaster, etc.

Scott installed paravanes on Sea Life. Think shrimp boat: arms come out to not quite 45 degrees, and then weights (or “birds”) are deployed from the arms. They dive and pull down, to reduce rolling and give us a better ride (they do not make the boat anymore seaworthy or steady,  just more comfortable).

At anchor, we can switch out the birds for “flopper-stoppers,” Large plates hang from the paravanes, allowing water to flow through in an upward direction, but not down, providing more stability in “rolly” anchorages.