: I've used steel wool right down to 0000? on epoxy. You can get a
: near mirror finish. Works on varnish too, but I think the epoxy
: is a little harder.
: (basic operating theory is whatever would work with plexiglas
: acrylic would would on epoxy. So long as any wooling, buffing
: polishing done on epoxy or varnish doesn't heat and soften it,
: it'll work.)

: However.... based on the now banned super fast competition swim
: suits which have a micro-texture (based on shark skin I think)
: I've let my hull go matte. I'm willing to bet that a hull in
: water sanded no higher than maybe 220 would be more slippery
: than one buffed to multi-zero steel wool reflecting like a
: mirror. See the golf ball texture car episode of the Mythbusters
: if you don't believe my malarkey.

: An easy test ( I should do instead of speculating) is to make two
: hydrodynamic shapes, polish one and leave one at 220 grit, hang
: them on opposite ends of a stick, drag it behind my kayak and
: see which one has more drag. Longer shapes--more surface area,
: would probably yield better results.

: In any case when I've had a GPS my Great Auk hull has been a fairly
: steady 4.3 knots with the largest variable the guy swinging the
: paddle, the wind and waves.

LOL... the paddler is almost always the biggest variable. Doing all the above for a perfect finish means absolutely nothing if your paddling technique isn't also perfect.

A really good paddler in a really bad boat will almost always be faster than a poor paddler in a very fast boat.

Bill H.