Driveway Finish -- A boat is a piece of art. When considering the finish on your boat, you must evaluate what type of artist you are. Some artists create beautiful works that have only the highest standards of craftsmanship in which imperfections can only be detected with a magnifying glass. On the other end of the spectrum is me, I prefer to knock the boat into reasonable shape with 80 grit, and then paint. My general rule of thumb is that while the boat is in my garage, if I can see an imperfection from the end of my driveway, then I'll think about fixing it, but probably won't.