RE: Covering woes... sigh...
CP --
[link=http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10443]Here's a link [/link] to another forum with relative weights of coverings. I can't vouch for the accuracy, but probably they are close to correct. Light silk with sprayed dope is one of the lighter coverings, but it can be pretty fragil.
You're correct in that monokote is likely the most durable of the intermediate finishes and holds up better than tissue or silkspan, especially when landing without gear. I'm really not criticizing monokote itself, just that I'm not very pleased with my ability to apply it well and I like fooling with older dope/silk/silkspan methods.