Painting canopy interior/back glass?

[rossb]

Delphinus/son of skyline I think you should be safe with either a spar urethane or spar varnish. On my fresh water tank I have used spar urethane to coat the pine cribbing and it has held up well (under a 1000W Mh bulb). The urethane is essentially a plastic. There is a water based version of this called verathane...but it is not nearly as tough. I expect the marine paints that the store is refering to are called antifouling paints. These come in a number of flavors and are designed to prevent maring growth on the hull and most contain copper (amoung other things).

I have had a sailboat for years and I would use a paint made by Sikkens. These paints are simply the best I have ever found. They are somewhat elastic so they don't crack and have a UV guard. The make a marine varnish called cetol, and also some house paints. You can get these here at windsor plywood.

The trick to these paints is in the application. I would put a coat on, use a wet sand paper and sand it smooth as the paint raises the nap on the wood. I then would apply apply another coat and sand and then a third coat. You are trying to get a very smooth surface. This is effective on even particle board.