Well if it ends in a game it not that polish/reflective if you don't have "has_reflections 1" trough the boat. CFG file. If you are going to work with textures I would turn of the reflection effect and work with textures to get some kind of "good result".
But it depends on how you want it and of course it's a nice idea to do some texture test trough the software you are using to learn and experiencing texturing of 3D models
Maybe Mad Fred can help you since he got some nice textured models?