BPH>Thanks for the info. Regarding your PDQ 34, do you have any pics? GB>Not easilly found online. Any who would like some photos send me an off-net email, detail any special interests and if you have bandwidth issues with multiple or large images. BPH>Where you able to check your port hull for the same problem? GB>Yard made complete modifications to the port bow as well. I feel kinda bullet proof now. BPH>I guess all PDQ owners should check there boats. GB>Not particularly so. True, all new boat owners should make as complete an inspection as possible, for any boat. Otherwise, I'm thrilled with the PDQ quality in design, materials, construction and all the rest. BPH>Sorry to hear about the construction debris - this just goes to quality control problems. Actually both of these problems relate back to quality/manufacturing controls and management issues. I'm very surprised!!! GB>I'm not at all surprised. And don't get me wrong here -- I am not in any way disappointed with PDQ in general or specifically with my boat. Any modern boat with all it's complex and interrelated systems is bound to have some low level of issues/problems/glitches and I am not willing to pay the exorbitant price to have perfect assurance from the factory that every single one of them has been found and eliminated. I can, and do that myself. In the process I learned a lot of detail about my boat. Best way, I think. BPH>Could you upon inspection prior to delivery picked up these problems? GB>No. Bubbles in the laminate tabbing of the lower forward edge of the bulkhead to hull joint were only visible after the bow was opened up. A faulty tabbed glass joint from these folks is quite unlikely, and there must be several hundred yards of such joints in each boat, many in places no longer visible. Construction debris in this case comprised a couple of bits of wire, a wire connector, two screws and a washer, tiny scraps of glass fabric, bits of tie wrap, tape and such. A small scrap of wire snuck through the bilge pump strainer screen and blocked the impeller. Prior to my involuntary washing of the stbd side bilge they were all hidden very well. Seriously, perhaps one should consider washing out the bilge(s) of any boat, new or old. This whould pick up some of the offending stuff, as well as test the bilge pump. Might be wise to have a portable backup pump on hand. BPH>Did you have your new PDQ professionally surveyed as part of the delivery process? GB>No. Waste of my money and everybody's time. I wouldn't expect to find much that the far more experienced factory final inspection guy missed. BPH>You exercised good sense beaching the boat. I'm sure you are grateful you had sand or mud along the shore of the river! GB>I already knew I had ample time to find a friendly spot, we were not sinking at any discernable rate, felt as though the flooding had pretty much stabilized by the time I decided to beach. I was concerned mostly with the anticipated delays getting salvors to the site and handy access to the bow at the waterline for repairs. Handilly, there was a nice little patch of sand beach right where I wanted it, but had there not been, I was prepared to go a considerable distance searching for one. BPH>Having gone thru this experience, what have you learned and what would you do to avoid this experience in the future? GB>Not easy to summarize. Careful review my myself and several others have failed to point out any big blunders of judgement or action that I made, in my seldom humble opinion. I bought two more, much bigger bilge pumps, and instead of permanent installations I have presently rigged them inside plastic buckets with a gazillion holes drilled in the bottom and sides, with a rope tether and long power cord attachable to the portable 12V battery I use for the electric trolling motor. I have rigged places in each watertight area of each bilge where at least one of these can be dropped in place, and next haulout I will add discharge throughhulls on the sides way above waterline and fitted with valves and hose fittings. They have already come in useful replacing the genset and AC raw water pumps I disabled by parking over a big bed of weeds. I am finishing design on a custom bilge pump control and telltale panel. I am also going to install 'log lights' below the fordeck between the hulls, to illuminate the water ahead of the boat with minimum interferrence with my vision or other boaters ability to see my side lights etc.. I now have both massively reinforced bows and tested and improved both crash voids now, so if another log and I got together I expect it would go much the worst for the log. Both the Admiral and I are considerably more cautious about floating logs and the like. BPH>The Katrina PDQ boat, do you have any pics of that too? No. I read the story and saw a couple of photos in a magazine account by the boat owner which I kinda recall PDQ sent me. I don't recall precisely, but if it was them, you might get Salwa Farah, the webmistress or Rob Poirier, the sales manager to forward you a copy. Their master website is at www.pdqyachts.com. I would like to point out that on the Trawler net one expects to find some statement declaring that the writer does or does not have any financial interest in the things he/she has just recommended. Sounds like a good idea there and here as well. I have no financial interest in PDQ Yachts or anything else I spoke of today. I am just a very enthusiastic owner and user with a couple of good stories to tell. Cheers Gary Still floating with one hull destroyed is a fine testament for catamarans!!!