Jeff and Ellen Hall were not always creatures of the sea, committed to lives fully and constantly afloat. In the early stages of their busy professional careers, as they accumulated wealth with the shared notion of what they referred to as “early exits” from the workplace, their goal was a beach house, someplace quiet where they could kick back together and enjoy the fruits of their labors. But that was before they discovered boating, and a specific brand of long-range cruisers that spoke to their souls: Kadey-Krogen. All of which has led them to their current yacht, a Krogen 48 AE called Sea Dweller, their figurative and literal, full-time home and hearth.
It’s a boat, the couple believes, that is both a technological marvel but one that is simply and easily operated and maintained. Certainly, they now have the miles and experience to stake such a claim. Speaking from onboard Sea Dweller while tied up in Canada’s Saint John River, a tributary off the Bay of Fundy, they were in the midst of their annual 4,000-nautical mile roundtrip migration north from their winter base in Fort Pierce, Florida. And Jeff was very clear in his assessment of Sea Dweller’s capabilities.
“Sea Dweller is technologically advanced, but also user-friendly,” said Jeff, making it very clear that the terms are not mutually exclusive. “You don’t need to be an engineer to operate the boat. In the evening at a quiet anchorage, Ellen walks to the thermostat and turns on the AC. Simple as that. Underway, all Sea Dweller’s energy systems can be monitored and controlled from any Garmin OneHelm multi-function display unit. If we want to charge our energy-storage system ashore, we simply use our iPhone to start the generator and charging systems while having a brisk morning walk or a cup of Joe at the local coffee shop. Sea Dweller has all the amenities and conveniences of a luxury condo, which is why we see ourselves continuing this lifestyle for a very long time.”
Indeed, the Halls and their yacht are nothing less than a two-part love story, one that is inexorably intertwined. Their personal tale began in Ocean City, Maryland, almost five decades ago, when they met by chance on a beach vacation. Soon enough, they’d sealed their relationship and settled in Richmond, Virginia, where Jeff launched his career in health care specializing in cardiovascular medicine and Ellen pursued hers in corporate accounting. As they continued working, they also started to pursue some dreams.
“That’s when we kind of stumbled on the boating thing,” said Ellen. Oh boy, did they ever. They started slowly, visiting boat shows, but that all changed when they attended their first Trawlerfest on Solomons Island, Maryland in the late 1990s. “We saw something quite unique on the docks and that’s when Gary and Jean Coard invited us aboard their brand-new Kadey Krogen 42-foot trawler,” she continued. “Their boat was absolutely magnificent. That’s when we got the bug. Okay, it was the Krogen bug.”
Over the next decade, they accumulated skills and experience, taking U.S. Power Squadron courses on basic boating, weather, and navigation, and regularly chartering on Chesapeake Bay and even the Caribbean. By 2014, now financially secure, they pulled the trigger on their first boat, a Krogen 44 also called Sea Dweller, a name they loved that was also attuned to their aspirations. The boat was fantastic, but what was equally satisfying was the welcoming community of fellow Kadey-Krogen owners, particularly Gary and Jackie Nelson, who owned a Krogen 39. “They embraced us and took us under their wing as we cruised together from the Chesapeake to South Florida and back,” said Ellen. “It was the most wonderful experience we could’ve had that first year.” With the positive vibes established, in 2015 they sold their house, moved aboard and never looked back.
For several years they ranged far and wide on that first Sea Dweller, but in 2019, while cruising in the Canadian Maritimes, they had an epiphany: A bigger boat would be quite nice. Unfortunately, there were slim pickings on the brokerage market. Which is when they got a call from Kadey-Krogen’s CEO Tucker West, who posed an intriguing question: “Hey, we got a 48 in the mold, how about we build you a new one?”
Thinking back on that conversation, Jeff cut straight to the chase: “Basically, the stars were aligned.” The deal was struck, and the new Sea Dweller, a 48 AE, began to come together. With the commission came fresh opportunities, which Jeff was eager to explore. Specifically, he wondered, how far could they push the envelope when it came to advanced, integrated systems; energy management and control; and gracious living aboard?
“I had a vision about these emerging technologies,” Jeff said. “If a system could be designed, built and integrated correctly, it could emulate the kind of lifestyle one would expect on land. To their credit, Kadey-Krogen got it and stepped up for us. I’m not sure many other boatbuilders would have. I have so much respect for them.” The Halls knew they needed partners with specific expertise in their quest, and sought input from a pair of highly regarded experts in the field: Bruce Schwab of Ocean Planet Energy, a Maine-based leader in integrated marine energy solutions, and author and consultant Nigel Calder, who works closely with Schwab on related projects.
The heart of Sea Dweller’s 12-volt energy system is a suite of four 600-amp lithium-ion batteries, which generate approximately 37,000 watts, or about 2,400-amp hours. The auxiliary engine is a 200-horsepower, electronically controlled John Deere diesel engine with a 360-amp alternator, both of which have performed flawlessly. The boat is also equipped with a 12-kW Northern Lights generator and a bank of solar panels that generate an additional 600 watts, though Jeff would like to increase the onboard solar capability. All of this is tied together digitally with a series of monitors and chargers from Victron Energy. For charging, Jeff says, “We’re using several charging sources. At the dock and underway, we have two 5,000 volt-amperes Quattro inverter/chargers. They not only charge, they also support the single-phase 240-volt loads like the air conditioning. Bruce and Nigel wanted to go with as many 240 loads as possible, and our water maker, water pump and hot water heater are also 240. There are real advantages to this technology because you don’t have to be plugged into shorepower or running a generator when running these loads.
“The other thing that’s critically important when designing a yacht like this with advanced energy storage systems is that when these loads come on and off you have a tremendous drop in voltage, what’s called inrush current,” he continued. “To mitigate that challenge you really need to be using a storage system that has built-in soft-start capability, and our lithium (package) meets that criteria. Our air-conditioners have soft-start capability that minimizes that inrush current. With a lot of input from Bruce and Krogen, from their experience with past builds, I was able to make an intelligent decision on what loads we were going to deploy on the boat, and what our energy system would support.”
In addition, Jeff noted, “Our 360-amp alternator is controlled by a Wakespeed regulator, which is unique. When we’re underway, monitoring our energy system with the Garmin, we can actually see what the alternator is producing in the way of current. Say Ellen turns on the microwave in the salon. The Wakespeed essentially talks to the batteries and the alternator through a computer bus system, and it shares the responsibility of providing enough energy to these different loads when you’re bringing them online. If we want to run the A/C in the pilothouse, you can actually see the sharing of the energy between the lithium batteries and the alternator. What’s so cool is that it’s like a ballet dance. It resembles nothing like what we had on our 44.”
In the fall, Sea Dweller will return to Florida’s Fort Pierce City Marina to catch up with doctor’s appointments and reunite with old mates. “The folks that run the marina are amazing,” said Jeff. “And it’s really popular with the Krogen cruising community, we’ve had as many as nine or ten Krogens in there. We spend holidays together. It’s like our family.”
Florida and the Bahamas in the winter, the blue Atlantic in the summer: Life aboard Sea Dweller ebbs and flows with the seasons, and a happy existence it is. For Ellen and Jeff, it’s a pattern and lifestyle they aim to enjoy for a very long time.
