g day Troy, thanks for sharing the fun you are having
re finderscope; just check that the little OTA is properly placed in the mount, i had a friend with a problem like that. to prevent dewing use a soft foam stubbie holder: the cut down base as a removeable lense cap or the cylinder with the base removed as a semi-fixed shield.
re secondary dew; similar foam to form a dew shield over the front of the OTA works.
re eps; i use the below eps (except the ES100 20 mm) in my 8" and often 2x barlow the 6.7. higher magnification = smaller FOV and the target "moving" through quite fast. wider FOV eps help but smooooooth dob movement helps even more. i placed textured laminex (off-cut from local cabinet business) on the upper base and replaced nylon pads with teflon on the lower base. the 'laminex made the bigger improvement. i find the GSO altitude system is smooth but balance the tube rather than torquing the adjusters as i find that increases back-lash.
clear skies (eventually), L