Kraken 50 The Ultimate Blue Water Yacht?

[Haddock1]

I have been following the development of Kraken Yachts from China as I am looking for a blue water cruiser to sail the world with just two on board (me and the misses). Initial interest was a S/H discovery but for the same money it appears I can afford a new Kraken 50. They play on the encapsulated keel and skeg hung rudder as key safety features. Their larger boats are getting rave reviews. Love the raised helm for inside watches. It appears that all the features of this vessel tick all the boxes (very similar to Discovery) for long distant cruising at a fraction of the price of the competition. Am I missing anything? Be interested in your thoughts.

[BCookCornwall]

Originally Posted by Haddock1

I have been following the development of Kraken Yachts from China as I am looking for a blue water cruiser to sail the world with just two on board (me and the misses). Initial interest was a S/H discovery but for the same money it appears I can afford a new Kraken 50. They play on the encapsulated keel and skeg hung rudder as key safety features. Their larger boats are getting rave reviews. Love the raised helm for inside watches. It appears that all the features of this vessel tick all the boxes (very similar to Discovery) for long distant cruising at a fraction of the price of the competition. Am I missing anything? Be interested in your thoughts.

Having followed Kraken and visited their production / boats, yes, they are the real deal. Yachting Monthly just came out with a new review which was 8 pages and all good. It is nice they have moved production to Turkey too.

They also just released quite a video about their features and the sections about the structural elements interested me the most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syl8m9x701g

If you have any questions I can try and answer from my visit.

[Eleuthera 2014]

Well done Kraken. You imitate my 30 yo Amel to a T.

But then copying another company is a form of flattery. :-)

I would look seriously into one.

[BCookCornwall]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

Well done Kraken. You imitate my 30 yo Amel to a T.

But then copying another company is a form of flattery. :-)

I would look seriously into one.

Having sailed extensively on my friends Super Maramu (a boat I absolutely love) and the new Amels, which do feel like a step away from Henri Amel's vision, I can say Kraken are integrating traditional methods with modern systems. It's a shame to see Amel and Rassy moving away from the cruising scene. As I said, I love the super maramu and the Amel 54 especially but I would take a Kraken 50 over the Amel 50 and end up paying less for the privilege.

[Sojourner]

I've gotten into a number of fights with amel 54 and up owners online about how much amel stepped away from henri's vision. I would never trade our super maramu for any other amel, but the kraken looks pretty interesting....

[B23iL23]

Hmm. Ok some nice features, some I like, some I don't. Hull design (for a new boat) seems dated. It's like they took a design from 10 years ago and used it as the base for their models. I like the keel arrangement, not gone on the skeg and the Solent rig and other stuff is available on many other boats.

Never heard of them up to now but it does seem like they are trying the Amel tactic (or maybe the previous Amel tactic)


Edit: The 66 appears to be an older design. The 50 and the 58 look newer. 2 cabins only on a 58 footer? would liked to have min of 3.

[BCookCornwall]

Originally Posted by B23iL23

Hmm. Ok some nice features, some I like, some I don't. Hull design (for a new boat) seems dated. It's like they took a design from 10 years ago and used it as the base for their models. I like the keel arrangement, not gone on the skeg and the Solent rig and other stuff is available on many other boats.

Never heard of them up to now but it does seem like they are trying the Amel tactic (or maybe the previous Amel tactic)


Edit: The 66 appears to be an older design. The 50 and the 58 look newer. 2 cabins only on a 58 footer? would liked to have min of 3.

When I saw them, they pushed the fact you could customise the layouts however you liked. They did show me a 3 cabin 58 design but I was mainly looking at the 50 which also could have multiple cabin layouts.

We talked about hull design too, they essentially said modern yachts are quite flat hulled to maximise space but at the detriment of sailing motion and slamming. They talked about a sweet spot to achieve the best of both.

I spoke to the owner who said he couldn't find a modern boat builder that was building a boat that ticked his boxes so decided to build his own.

[Leighton]

Originally Posted by BCookCornwall

When I saw them, they pushed the fact you could customise the layouts however you liked. They did show me a 3 cabin 58 design but I was mainly looking at the 50 which also could have multiple cabin layouts.



We talked about hull design too, they essentially said modern yachts are quite flat hulled to maximise space but at the detriment of sailing motion and slamming. They talked about a sweet spot to achieve the best of both.



I spoke to the owner who said he couldn't find a modern boat builder that was building a boat that ticked his boxes so decided to build his own.

It’s a copy of the Tayana design 55 & 58 repackaged. The owners used to run Tayana Hong Kong.
I don’t understand all the hype against bolt on keels. Tens of thousands have been built and they only fall off when there’s been a manufacturing error. With the Kraken you’re relying on a bit of glass matt to hold it on.

[Freshman]

I have talked to them but not received final offer based on my specification.
Anyway looks they copy Discovery a bit but it is not a shame.
Last Yachting Monthly has published review of Kraken 50. So you can find some more info.
Kraken is new on market and for that sort of money I would look for custom built boat wich will be cheaper and designed according to my requirements .