'08 230 gel coat cracks, leave 'em or fix 'em?

To fix stress cracks the right way, grind them out all the way to the fiber glass, then see what you have.

If its only in the gel coat -

Fill with thickened epoxy and top with gel coat.
And sand, sand, sand.

Repaired right they won't come back.

Can you inspect the area from inside the boat?

Pete,

If groves from a die grinder are filled I think it would be OK.
(1/4 inch wide or less)

BUT -

If the whole area was sanded then I'd use a vinyl ester bond coat.

Your probably right, sand the whole area to do it right.

It's under warranty so why not?

Did you hit something? It seems odd that this area would crack unless it was subjected to unusually high stress.

Get it fixed right - that boat has a lot of life left in it!

They were in the hull when I bought the boat. The previous owner claims that the rudder never got run into anything. There don't appear to be any cracks around the prop strut or any other running gear. I plan to have the hull checked thoroughly by the Nautique dealer before they repair it. The cracks do look like they originate at the forward two screws of the rudder mount. It would be unusual for CC to miss chamfering these holes, but not impossible.