PDQ sailboats for sale

Buying a used PDQ: a lightweight-engineering catamaran, not PDQ's later power boats

A used PDQ sailing catamaran is a light, foam-cored, vacuum-bagged Canadian cruising cat with a carbon cross beam and deliberately shallow keels it can dry out on -- a genuinely differentiated proposition rather than a generic cruising catamaran. Two identification traps are worth clearing up before you start shopping. First, the designer was naval architect Alan Slater, not the magazine reviewer sometimes credited in listings and databases -- that credit traces to a 1995 review byline, not a design credit. Second, PDQ's sailing 34, built between 1988 and 1991, is a different boat from a later PDQ power catamaran that also carried the "34" name; confirm which one a listing is actually describing before you get attached to it.

Which era to target

The 34 (1988-1991) and the 36 (1991-2003) share a hull lineage -- the 36 came from a 1991 rework of the 34 that added stern steps -- so treat the two as one continuous line rather than separate designs when weighing age against condition. About 100 of the 36 were built. The 32 (1995) came later and is scarcer, at a production run of only around fifty, and swaps the earlier boats' forward cabin for an aft layout meant to keep the 36's speed in a smaller, less expensive package. Its engine choice is worth deciding on early: it could be ordered with either twin 9.9 hp Yamaha outboards under the cockpit or straight-drive 18 hp inboard engines in each hull, a real fork between outboard simplicity and conventional inboard service.

Navigating the lineup

The three models sit close in size, sharing the same lightweight, foam-cored, vacuum-bagged construction and shallow-keel approach to speed. Cabin layout -- forward on the 34 and 36, aft on the 32 -- and the 32's engine option do more to separate them than any change in engineering approach; the full model directory on this page lays out the specifics by year and dimension.