I have a Walden Passage that I use as a touring boat (river and
coastal), now two or three years old. The hull's in pretty good shape
(the boat's stored carefully in a barn when not in use) but has
accrued the expected measure of surface abrasion one would anticipate
in a boat that's used fairly regularly, not always at all gently! I'm
considering going over the hull lightly with a very fine emery paper,
as I'd guess the surface roughness has a small but measurable impact
on performance. My intention is to remove a minimal amount of plastic
and then hit it all with a coat of UV protector. Good idea or bad?

Thanks to those that answered my question regarding paddling in the
Pemaquid area of Maine. I ended up soloing, with some interesting
estuarine day trips of up to twenty miles or so, as well as some more
exposed paddling to the islands. I managed to avoid getting in hot (or
cold) water. My schedule was somewhat erratic so matching with someone
else might have been tricky.

Ted