: Peter,

: It doesn't seem to matter what the material is, but how smooth it is. If you
: go back to the bible that Bram Dally used in designing the Swift Solo,
: (High Performance Sailing, by Frank Bethwaite) the author references a
: number of sources and standard texts to quantify skin friction.
[...]

Thanks for the good information. I also did a bit of digging based on some of the other posts, and it appears that sailors are spending money for surface treatments that claim to provide some sort of water boundary layer (or something like this anyway). I don't know if this actually the fastest kind of coating, but the science sure sounds good. :-)

Anyway, all the information indicates that adding graphite to epoxy doesn't do much to improve speed, and that there are other ways of obtaining just as much benefit. Good. I wasn't eager to build an otherwise great looking boat with an ugly gray bottom.

: By the way, if you are building one, I would love to see some construction
: photos. I'm tossing up whether the next project will be a Cape Ann Storm
: or a Swift Solo.

This is still in the thinking-about-it stage. I need to finish the Caspian Sea in the garage and then build a canoe for my sister. I also thinking about an NS14 design from Northwest Marine, but the Swift Solo looks so much sexier. If and when, I'll be sure to take lots of photos, just like for my current and past projects.

Peter F. Patel-Schneider