I toured a Kadey Krogen Manatee 36 yesterday. I guess it is named after the marine mammal "Manatee" which inhabit the central Gulf coast of Florida. That animal is ungainly looking but graceful and lovable anyway. I guess that's why they named the boat after it. The Manatee has as much room inside and on deck as can possibly be imagined in a 36 foot craft that is still to be considered a real boat (as opposed to a houseboat or a barge). Someone has said every boat is a compromise and that is certainly true here. This boat looks like a cross between a trawler and a houseboat. The accomodations for humans are fantastic. What follows is my attempt at describing the Manatee, with apologies to Bill Parlatore, editor of Passagemaker, who does such a good job of walking us through a boat or two every issue. The blunt bow has a raised deck which allows for a full headroom forward cabing with an island queen size bed in the forward cabin. Lots of storage, drawers, lockers and even a dressing table. Spacious! Moving aft, a nice sized head with shower stall to starboad and a cozy but well equipped galley to port. Up one step from the galley/head/cabin deck is the spacious full width salon with what seemed like about seven foot headroom, a wrap around settee to port converts to a double guest berth which I estimated to be seven feet long. To starboard, a TV cabinet, shelves, and icemaker. Finally, a spacious, covered aft deck with a transom door, hinged at the bottom which serves a boarding ramp. A ladder leads upward to the boat deck with a flying bridge (and the only bridge). The boat deck is large and would accomodate your average dinghy with much room to spare. A strong mast and boom looks like it would be up to the job of hoisting the dinghy aboard. It comes with an honest to God sail track for mounting a steadying sail. only one step down from salon. Forward is the bridge. On either side of the bridge is a step (or two) down to the bow deck, which offers a lofty view of the water some seven or eight feet below. On the boat I visited, the bridge had a windshield with hinged center window. The sides and back had removeable vinyl curtains. The 360 degree view was fantastic. There was ample seating for four or five up there. The overall impression based on everything that I have already descrbed was of an incredibly roomy boat, suitable for liveaboards, which felt very "shippy" (but don't ask me to define that). If this boat never left the dock, it would serve quite admirably as a small but adequate floating home. Unfortunatly, I was being shown this boat by a broker and did not have the opportunity to talk to the owner or go out for a sea trial. Based on the considerable windage of the boat, I would not have considered taking it out without the owner at the helm. As a result, I have a number of operational questions which I would like to pose to anyone who has experience with this kind of boat? Do you consider the windage a problem underway in a strong cross wind? How do you dock the boat with only two aboard. The bow is a long way from the stern - up a ladder to the boat/bridge deck, go forward and down to the bow deck? It looks like it takes three, a helmsman plus someone at the bow and stern. What are its roll characteristics since it seems a little top heavy? How easy is it operate from the flying bridge in rough weather, since the bridge is up high and some considerable distance from the probable center of movement? How does it lay (or ly) at anchor? Do you need to use the sail to keep it pointing into the wind? It looks like it would hunt a lot with all that windage. How difficult is docking in the wind? The boat I looked at had a stern thruster but the bow is the end that I would worry about. What is your experience with the Volvo turbo diesel? Is the turbo a source of significant maintenance? What do you do about safeguarding electronic instruments on the flying bridge both in bad weather and at the dock? How do you deal with heavy weather on the seemingly exposed bridge? It hard to imagine that the vinyl curtains offer much protection in strong wind and/or rain? How do you get things up to the bridge since the ladder would require two hands when underway? Conclusion: I think I could get to like (or even love) this ugly duckling of a boat if I could get some satisfactory answers to these questions. This is a lot of boat for 36 feet but can you leave the dock with it? Thanks in advance for any answers, Rick Austin in Austin, Texas rick@capsales.com PS: further info on the Manatee and all other Krogens is available at http://www.his.com/~vann/KrgStuff/Krognidx.htm