Repair gel coat before painting?

[Chuck Gibson]

I am working on doing a few small repairs before painting a boat and I need to know where to get started. There are a few spots on this boat that the damage goes through the gelcoat all the way to the fiberglass. I believe that you guys recommend grinding down to the glass and tapering the area and then repairing with a fiberglass patch. Do I need to leave a little room and replace the gelcoat before fairing and painting, or can I just fair and paint over the patch?
There are also a lot of little stretch cracks in the gelcoat in various places on the boat. Do these need to be ground out and re gelcoated or can they just be filled with fairing compound before fairing and painting?
Thanks!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Repair gel coat before painting?

Ayuh,... Sand, fill, resand, prime, then paint...
No gelcoat necessary...