Mike,

Finesse-It II is a polishing material. It removes surface to make it
smoother. I used it on my V2C to remove lime deposits. It's great
stuff.

Hard wax has some abrassive content but it is primarily a wax, not a
polish -- it fills in tiny holes in the surface, which polishers do
not do. This serves to protect the gelcoat from moisture, which is my
primary concern, not making it smoother. I'm trying to optimize my
speed 5 and 10 years from now, not go faster tomorrow.

I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that some people replying to my OP
suggest that power tools might harm my glider. Really?! Next time I'm
at the dentist, I'm going to tell him to crank that sucker by hand!

An open question is whether my glider received an application of hard
wax at the factory before they sent it out the door. (My wife's Toyota
did not.) If so, I'm not going to worry about this until the off
season. If not, I want to do what is prudent and appropriate to
protect my investment.

A8: thank you for the e-mail -- good stuff!

2NO