painting a fiberglass cowl on a vintage OMC

hi all. I'm going got attempt to paint the cowl and lower unit on my '61 QD-22 10 hp. I've never painted anything before, so I'll take all the help I can get. For starters I need to remove the old decals. Any suggestions? I also need to repair/repaint the fiberglass cowl as well. There are no major crack or holes in it, but there are a few spots where I can see the f'glass fibers. What should I use to cover/fill in these areas? Bond-o, or something similar? What type of primer would be good for the f'glass cowl? As for the lower unit, I've read several threads and I think I have a good idea how to do that. Any personal suggestions for what to use to remove old grease dirt, etc...? I've heard oven cleaner works well. Also should I paint over all of the drain/vent screws and other nuts and bolts? Should I remove all of the old paint and take everything down to bare metal, or only the areas that are loosest? If I leave old solid paint on the LU can the zinc chromate primer used on the bare metal go over the old paint too, or should only use the ZC primer on the bare aluminum spots? Thanks for any and all help. No detail is too basic or small. I'm a total noob when it comes to painting. Thanks again.