You will need to take extra care getting the hull smooth and fair. the paint will show up any imperfections more than varnish will. fortunately, you can use easy-to-sand fillers like West's 410 micro-lite fairing filler. For that yacht like finish the time is well worth it.

We are mostly wood builders here and avoid pigments at all costs but a well painted boat looks great too. i am currently building a plywood-strip hybrid baidarka and will paint the hull and varnish the strip deck.

--eric