wax

After people have polished the bottom of there hull does anyone finish it with car wax to protect the finish?

It will obviously make the hull super smooth but does water then stick to it, making it slow?

Not this old chestnut again! All of the available science says that the more perfect the finish, the lower the drag. Perfect means shiny. Car wax will NOT make water "stick" to the hull, rather the opposite. It'll make dirt stick less too. Just make sure you buff it all off thoroughly. Buff with a clean cloth, then when it's shiny, buff it again with another clean cloth!

In the real world, The finish will not make that much difference unless the hull is completely fair, and that's a LOT of work!

Neil

And besides, however much time you intend to spend in the garage with the sandpaper & buffer you will definitely go faster if you spend that time on the water.

Now, if you have a fully committed shore crew (to do the fairing and waxing) and a training boat (to sail while Mummy is waxing the race boat) then you might want to consider the relative merits of different hull waxing / finishing schemes. But really, most people gave up sailing oppies a long time ago .