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| September 2006 |
| Haul-Out, Bottom-Wash, Zinc Replacement |
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| Sno' Dog on the TraveLift at Great Bay Marina (how could you guess?) for a quick bottom wash & zinc check |
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| Bare Bottom! |
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| From this angle it's pretty clear why the PDQ is such an efficient powercat. The only part of the boat that touches the water are those two long canoe-like hulls. The guy who pressure-washed her botom remarked that it was the quickest 34-footer he'd done in a long time - so little surface to clean! |
| New prop zincs and rudder zincs installed, now she's ready to go back in the water |
| We replaced both prop and rudder zincs. They were surprisingly worn out considering the boat has only been in the water since April - I guess it's been about 6 months. It is, of course, their job to "sacrifice" themselves. Replacement is easy, it could actually be done under water if need be. |
| In the photo to the right, you can see the small keel which extends down about two inches below the propeller and thus affords pretty decent protection. To me, a shallow-draft boat without this protection makes no sense. If you poke around long enough in shallow water, you will surely touch bottom. With adequate prop protection, it's no big deal - you just back up and go somewhere else. With exposed props, you ruin an $800 propeller or worse. |
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| Here's the actual - computer generated - shape of the PDQ Hulls... |
| From the work of Malcolm Tennant and others, I gather this shape has evolved as the optimum for a displacement powercat. It certainly works well for the PDQ 34. |
| I believe this was their original design - production models have a slightly more pronounced fin aft for greater propeller protection. |