Gel coat restoration. What should I do?

I recently purchased a beautiful 1976 19'5" Boston whaler revenge. I love this boat and have been searching for one in good shape for years. I grew up on this boat. I got a lot if sentiment in this boat and want to bring it back to life.
That being said, The hull and frame are in great shape it's turn key however the gel coat is cracked pretty much everywhere. I want to bring this boat back to its original luster but I do have a budget. I'm mechanically inclined and an ready to do the labor. I just don't know which route to take.
Idk if I should sand it down and add gel coat to a large project, maybe full in the cracks with fiberglass resin, paint with an epoxy? Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Re: Gel coat restoration. What should I do?

You might want to post some pix of the cracking because w/out actual pix, it's hard to lend a hand, or at least hard to give you any good news...

As your Whaler is constructed like this:


If the gel coat cracking is substantial & wide spread, the foam interior of your boat may be holding water below decks. Left uncovered & exposed to the weather, trapped water can freeze & thaw, heave & contract, causing even more problems. Do you know how much your rig is supposed to weigh & how much it does weigh, that would give you a good measure of the volume of water trapped below decks.

None of the cracking is stress fractures from repeatedly running to fast in heavy waves & pounding the ever loving HEII out of the boat. Cracks in & around the splashwell & transom are also indications that there is something not quite right structurally....

But post some pix, and you'll likely get quite a few responses....

Re: Gel coat restoration. What should I do?

Probably the best bet would sand the crap outa it and re-gel.

Spectrum colors has the blue gel for it.

Does this have the mohogany console ?

YD.