I''m no expert on the subject, I only have my own experience to draw from. I have an Impulse 21, I put an ablative
paint on it for growth reasons, to protect the bottom and durability. I race in week-end and week night PHRF club, I wasn''t very competative in lower winds. But when wind blew, we went. We would crush our fleet and very often we would pass the fleet that started in front of us, with a 5 minute start. I don''t think I say a real problem with it. I too, was thinking about spending the lagre amount of time and switching to VC-17. I think I would be doing it more for my anal tendancies and not "real" performance. ????