when you crawl under there, you will see all the little nicks and scratches that happen when you hit flotsam on the water at 70mph+… I have seen water conditions where I would probably consider waxing the bottom, knowing that one 80mph run down the river is going to burn the wax off the bottom anyway. Some places have such grungy water that wax will help prevent the grunge from attaching to the bottom/sides where it can be difficult to remove. I personally wax the top and sides and leave the bottom alone. I do try to make sure it stays reasonably clean, but since I dont live on the water, there is no temptation to leave the hull in the water for days or weeks at a time. I saw something written by John Tiger some time back, where they played with the bottom. You will gain more speed by sharpening up the corners on strakes/pad sides and rear, etc. Sharp edges tend to detach from the water at high speed, where rounded edges cause the water to flow around then and stick to the bottom worse. At 60mph sanding the running surface with 320 grit will barely be noticable. At 80+ you can begin to see some gains, but we are not talking 5-10 mph, still. but 1-2 can be had at the upper end. And it will be noticably harder to keep it clean.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
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