Kadey-Krogen Yachts Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Kadey-Krogen Yachts, LLC, a builder of rugged, long-range cruising trawlers, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 6., along with the affiliated company, American Tug, LLC. Kadey-Krogen was founded in 1976, built nearly 700 yachts and is well known within the passagemaking community for its ocean-capable, fuel-efficient bluewater designs. For the rest of the story...
The Filing
Case records on PACER show Kadey-Krogen Yachts, LLC filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition after almost five decades of designing and building yachts. Court records show two related companies also filed for Chapter 7. The first is parent company KKY Holdings, LLC, and the second was American Tugs, LLC, based in LaConner, WA.
Chapter 7 is a court-supervised liquidation of a company's assets.
Court and Jurisdiction: U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware
Tucker West, president of the company, and one of the owners, executed the petitions and related court filings on behalf of all three companies. It was a particularly sad turn of events for Tucker, as his father, Jock West, a life-long personality in the boating industry, passed away just over a week before.
Tucker West lives in Portsmouth, RI, the headquarters of Kadey-Krogen.
About the Company
Kadey-Krogen specialized in bluewater trawler yachts built for long offshore passages, coastal cruising, and extended liveaboard use. The brand is best known for its full displacement hull design, and superstructure that was a bit like a North Sea trawler and a shrimp boat with an up-turned sheer at the stern.
Its current lineup includes 6 models ranging from 44 to 60 feet. The company also offers brokerage services for pre-owned Kadey-Krogen yachts and other passagemaking vessels. In May of 2023 the company bought American Tug, which was located in LaConner, WA, and was a perfect “feeder” with its smaller boats, up to the larger world cruising vessels.
In the pantheon of long range cruisers and trawlers, Kadey-Krogen took its place alongside Grand Banks, and was later followed by Nordhavn, Fleming, Nordic Tug and a few others. All were designed to fulfill the dream of wide-ranging cruising in challenging conditions and living aboard, for long stretches.
When came to a rugged build, high-quality systems in installations, and seaworthiness, Kadey-Krogens have always been a standout. That attention to a quality build was executed in the Summit brand, and in American Tugs after Krogen’s management took control.
The Kadey-Krogen brand followed.
Two Men and a Napkin
Kadey-Krogen Yachts traces its origins to 1976, when Florida yacht broker Art Kadey approached naval architect James S. Krogen with an idea for a rugged, liveaboard trawler he wanted for himself.
Krogen, born in 1928 in Manistee, Michigan, had three decades of commercial design experience behind him. Kadey had the connections in Taiwan to get a boat built. Company lore holds that the first design was sketched out over drinks — "two guys in a bar and a napkin," as a longtime executive later described it.
That sketch became the Krogen 42, and it defined the company for the next two decades.
The Krogen 42 Sets the Template
The Krogen 42 launched in 1977, built in Taiwan on primitive early molds. Its construction resembled the commercial shrimp trawlers of the era — a hull and cabin sides built in fiberglass sandwich with a closed-cell PVC foam core, laid up by hand with mat and roving.
The result was a full-displacement passagemaker with a fine forward entry, a wineglass transom, and a swept sheer rising to a high bow. A single Lehman diesel pushed her at roughly 8 knots, with a range that owners reported exceeding 2,000 nautical miles — and closer to 5,000 nm at slower speeds.
The formula worked. Roughly 206 Krogen 42s were built over the next 20-plus years, and the model established the seakeeping-first philosophy that would carry through every boat the company launched afterward.
Tragedy and Transition
Art Kadey was killed in 1981 in a Miami parking-lot robbery, shot after intervening to help a couple being held up. Jim Krogen continued to lead the design work until his death in December 1994.
From 1995 forward, ownership passed to members of the Krogen family and their business partners, with Jim's sons Kurt and Jimmy Krogen playing central roles in carrying the brand forward.
Building Out the Line
A steady run of new models followed the 42. The 48 Whaleback arrived in 1993, enclosing the main deck with a full-beam saloon and a raised pilothouse ringed by large windows. The Krogen 48 North Sea joined in 1995 and became a favorite among professional mariners and experienced ocean voyagers. The smaller Krogen 39 followed in 1997.
The Krogen 58 launched in 2000 as a true home-away-from-home capable of serving as a primary residence – as well as being ready for nearly any offshore condition. In 2004, the Krogen 44 arrived as a refined successor to the pioneering 42.
From 2008 onward, the company continued expanding the range with the Krogen 55 Expedition, the Krogen 52, the 48 AE, the 44 AE, the 58 EB, and — in 2018 — the Krogen 50 Open.
Taiwan Construction and a Growing Reputation
Manufacturing had moved early to Taiwan, and by 1991 the company's boats were being built at a purpose-built facility in Kaohsiung. The yard turned out roughly a dozen semi-custom yachts a year, each finished with high-quality joinery in teak or cherry.
By 2014, the 600th Kadey-Krogen had been delivered. By the time of the bankruptcy filing, the company reported nearly 700 yachts built over its history. Because the K-K vessels were so seaworthy, and comfortable for living aboard, the brand developed an almost cult-like following in the passagemaking community. The company has long noted that a large share of its owners live aboard for at least part of the year.
New Ownership and Expansion
In 2006, the company changed hands again, sold by the Krogen family to a group of boating enthusiasts — John Gear, Larry Polster, and Tom Button. The new ownership kept the firm's focus narrow: owner-operated passagemakers under 70 feet, refined rather than reinvented.
That discipline became a point of pride. Rather than chase larger yachts or different niches, the company positioned itself around a single defining feature — its exclusive “Pure Full Displacement” (PFD) hull, engineered for fuel efficiency, stability, and comfort on long voyages.
The Berth of Summit
The group broadened its brand portfolio over time. In 2019 it introduced Summit Motoryachts, a performance-cruising line built on a semi-displacement hull, that was intended to appeal to younger owners in more of a hurry. She also had quite different lines which melded well with conventional motoryacht styling.
In 2023 it acquired American Tug, adding a U.S.-built coastal cruiser to the family (see below).
The Kadey-Krogen Group at Its 50th
By 2026, the business operated as The Kadey-Krogen Group, builder of K-K trawlers, Summit Motoryachts, and American Tug, and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, having relocated over the years from its original base in Stuart, Florida. The group maintained sales offices in Portsmouth, Annapolis, Seattle, and Stuart.
The company entered 2026 preparing to mark its 50th anniversary, and in May of that year introduced the all-new Krogen 53, billed as a next-generation passagemaker built on the proven PFD hull. Its current lineup ran from 44 to 60 feet.
American Tug: An Alaska Fishing Hull, Reimagined
American Tug was founded in 1999 in La Conner, Washington, when a group of marine-industry veterans formed Tomco Marine Group to build rugged pleasure trawlers based on a proven commercial hull.
The founding team — Tom Nelson, Kurt Dilworth, and Mike Schoppert — had come together at Nordic Tugs in the mid-1990s. Nelson had previously served as president of Nordic Tugs and owned Nelson Yacht Corporation, which built custom 70- to 90-foot yachts.
For the design, they turned to Seattle naval architect Lynn Senour, who had drawn a stout 34-foot Alaska salmon-fishery hull in the early 1980s. When they found the original mold still in existence in La Conner, the boat took shape around it.
From the AT34 to a Full Fleet
The first American Tug 34 launched in August 2000. Its forward-raked windshield, high freeboard, and dramatic sheer carried over the workboat DNA of its fishing-hull origins, wrapped around a comfortable, well-finished cruising interior.
The line grew steadily: the 41/435, then the 485 in 2009, the versatile 395 in 2010, and the two-stateroom 362 in 2020. Built at a 28,000-square-foot facility on the Swinomish Channel, the yard turned out roughly six to ten boats a year, along with several commercial boats.
What Happens Next?
The filings begin the court-supervised liquidation process for Kadey-Krogen Yachts and its affiliated companies. Future court filings are expected to detail the administration of the cases and the companies' remaining assets and liabilities.