I didn't glass mine...just shot some primer on it...and never followed it with paint! Probably the most important aspect is that you use primer and paint that are compatible...part of a system, in order to avoid chemistry interactions. As was mentioned previously, the that paint system will have solid instructions as to what grit sandpaper to use between primer and topcoat, or primer, color, and clearcoats. Finer is not better...the directions are provided for a reason, and are based on real-world testing. You likely won't get sanding instructions on the cans, so look them up on the web. It's usually something like 220 grit wet sand between primer and top coat, which sounds rough, but the paint will flow out into the sanding marks, which give it "tooth" to adhere.
Nothing wrong with glassing with a thin layer of deck cloth, just adds a little weight, and we're not talking much. There are a lot of other places where builders add far more unnecessarily. For example, there is no reason to add extra wood anywhere in the boat to "beef it up". Some very light and thin items can be added as bracketry, but you probably don't need 1/4" plywood ANYWHERE! Seat backs should be foam and glass or foam and carbon, not plywood. And just because your oil filter adapter has three 3/8" bolt holes in it doesn't mean you need to use them on your airplane...3/16 bolts are even overkill. Even 3/16 would pull through the firewall before the bolts broke, and if you're doing that to your oil filter, the game is over anyway! So #8's are about right. If it's a sloppy fit, make some aluminum bushings out of thick-wall tubing. Never miss an opportunity to leave out weight. That's the way my next plane will be. Even N56ML has no "interior". "Natural" inside walls are about as beautiful as you can get, in my mind, and cabin heat takes care of the temperature in the winter. And use lots of small fasteners in the place of a few larger ones. The piano hinges that hold my aft deck are held on by #4 wood screws about 4" apart that weigh almost nothing. The screws at front and back are screws with nuts. If you can stop the front or back from starting to "un-zip", you've taken care of the problem. It's been proven good to 240 mph dives... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
