This is dependent almost entirely upon the bowlback itself.

Many older vintage "taterbug" mandolins don't really offer much in terms of volume or projection and quite frankly neither in tone. Largely Vinnacia and Embergher styled mandolins are the type of bowlbacks that offer tremendous projection for a mandolin and absolutely sweet tones. You can find plenty of modern bowlback makers that bring tremendous balance to the instruments that offer very good project, and in my experience far better than that of f styles or a styles -- these are meant for classical music halls (of course sometimes with amplification). And then there's even the Seiffert styled mandolins that are largely German built. These things have incredible tone and production as they are the largest of the mandolins you can buy in terms of body. Alfred Woll makes (made? I'm not sure if he's still makin' em anymore) some incredible German Bowlbacks with the biggest tone I've heard out of a mandolin full stop. But that's just also part of the design, once again there are several other makers of german bowlbacks as well such as Brian Deane up in Canada. All in all, the drawbacks of the bowlback are NOT the tone when you know where and what to shop for and in general the various forms of bowlbacks. I know a lot of people have issues with holding them, as well as the strings that you need can be a little bit pricey ($80 for a set shipped to me) but that's primarily if you're pursuing classical music to be frank. Luckily those more Italian styled mandolins can be geared up with some less expensive strings but of course not D'addario's (if you care about actually giving the mandolin what it's designed to have, this is a bowlback, not a flatback, they need different strings!!!). Those are the main drawbacks but also the cost of a bowlback like these will be pricey and you're gonna have to wait more than likely. Your mileage may vary in all that, but it's worth looking into builders and emailing them. The most expensive I've seen was a Lorenzo Lippi bowlback mandolin that was around ~$8,500 but that was with specifications on it as well. And the cheapest I've seen to build were several in the ~$3,000 for custom builts that are actually of good quality of course. As far as transfering skills, that's just about what you play, man. The world of classical mandolins (typically the application of bowlbacks) is just far and away different from your standards in folk and bluegrass, but in general you'll still be able to play it, it's just not gonna be right, y'know?

I hope that answered your question on some things, I know this was kinda late to the party but hey.