Cracks in gel

In the gel of my boat, there are small cracks in the gel I tried to make some pics today, but not sure if you can tell what I am trying to show. The previous owner kept this boat in a lift alot with the cover on it. Of course the cover just came to the rub rail, so everything below that was exposed to some sun.

Question is, can this be repaired with just sanding or will it have to have new gel coat? I think probably the later, but I have never done anything like this at all. (Wet sanded a toyota celica front fender once, but that is about all). There is cracks like this on the sides and the transom, but mostly the transom. The pic below is of the transom. They look like they are just on the surface.
The "74" decal is about 3in tall. This is where he had it in dry storage and never took the bin numbers off.

Kirk,

It could be that you have rotten stringers. Alot of the older CC had wood stringers. They got wet,rot and then you get flexing in your hull. This will cause spider cracks. Yes you can fix the gel but unless you replace the stringers, you are likely to see the apider cracks come back.

My motor box looked just like that!

Sanity's gelcoat thread

Having done a stringer job, it doesn't take 2000 hrs, but it will take you most of the winter. Gel can be repaired, if the cracks are single or in the same area, you might could get away with just redoing a few spots.

Hey Ed,
I got the boat around the first of july (this yr). What process did you use to reapply the gel?

The cracks on the transom looks to me like they are from sun exposure. On the sides there are similar cracks up high on the sides. Down low on the sides (near the bottom) there are some cracks that I would consider stress cracks.

Here are a couple pics of the other cracks that I mentioned. The pics here are the port and starboard sides. These cracks are only in one area on each side (about midways of the length of the boat). That is, they dont run the full length of the boat.


Starboard Side


Port Side

With cracks like this, will this boat take on water? I was thinkin that as long as the figerglass and resin was not cracked, it would not allow water to pass through.

Before I bought the boat, I did check the bolts in the engine mounts. They are all tight. I'm not saying that the stringers are not in need of repair. I know that in order to fix this correctly, the root cause will have to be addressed first.

Kirk,
I agree with the others who have commented on stringer condition. Don't go and try to fix the gel until you have investigated and done a stringer job on that hull.

Or maybe it seems like 2000 hrs with all the itching and wondering and thinking about the project when your not actually doing any work
Mike