I don't mean to be negative here, but I don't think anyone who performs at a high enough level where a polished graphite hull will make a significant speed difference is reading this forum. For those of us (without doubt me included) who are reading here, I think that a much bigger speed dividend will come from more training and practicing technique than from time spent sanding and polishing.

As an example, Maligiaq Padilla paddles a skin boat covered with nylon painted with oil-based paint that he designed himself by eye with no training in naval architecture or fine-tuning using computer modeling software and he can literally paddle circles around 99.5% of all paddlers on the planet, and keep pace with or outpace the other .5% in a straight line.

If you want to do it for the experience, I think that you should investigate using graphite and silica mixed with epoxy, but I'd do it because it makes for a tough finish that is easily repaired and will save time in finishing, not because it will make you faster. I talked to one of the engineers at Gougeon (west systems epoxy) about it, and he said that he didn't think it made any difference, and that as a sailboat racer the only thing he'd encountered that might make a difference is spraying the hull with Pledge before hitting the water.

m