Hmm, it must have changed. The last time I looked was when I bought the skimmer back in September, and at that time the PM-1 was the only skimmer that the gate valve came as an "option" (for the rest, it comes "standard"). The real irony here, I was in Houston at the time, and guess where Precision Marine is? I should have paid them a visit (I'm sure they're real appreciative of drop-ins :P ) and bugged them for a gate valve. Oh well..
Judging by the looks of how much gate valves cost, I guess that would explain why the skimmer was a good deal. Bummer!! I guess once again you only get what you pay for (unless you're Dez, or Jonny, who both seem to have an uncanny knack of sniffing out free stuff...
)