Crazing

[Brooksie]

Has anyone successfully dealt with this? One side of my hull is almost completely crazed, not stress cracking but crarzing like the gelcoat was too thick maybe. The cracks are completely over the topsides of the hull on only one side except on the flared portion of the bow (shaded?)
I don't want to peel it to glass just solvent wash, sand, and squeegy some epoxy over the whole thing b/4 epoxy primer and Perfection paint.
If no one has successfully done this, I am open to any and all suggestions as to epoxy brand or type. 1971 and white

 

[Comodave]

You can’t just squeege epoxy over the cracks, you need to grind down to solid material or the cracks will just come back. My boat had really thick gel coat in places. In some places I used a belt sander to take it all off. In places where it wasn’t too bad I used a Dremel tool and ground following the cracks. Then filled several times with sanding in between. Then primed and painted. Been 3 years now still looks great. There isn’t any way around the work if you want ti to look good and stay looking good.

 

[Brooksie]

I guess I was thinking squeeging INTO the cracks not OVER them using a thin epoxy maybe rolling it on and following with a squeegy to push it into the cracks. I could never dig them all out, there must be 1000 miles of them.
I'm sure you are right and the best way is to peel the gelcoat but if I have to do that, I'm going to leave it as is. You can't see ti from 3 feet away.

 

[SoWhat]

I had very extensive crazing, primarily below the waterline but worst section was right above the waterline. I spent many hours with a high pressure washer from different angles to chip away any lines that intersected. I then hit the worst cracks with a dremel. 80 grit, than a layer of West 105. It's very viscous so I doubt any went into the hairline cracks. Sanded, primed, and painted. 2 years now and cracks are still hidden.
I did not go down to the laminate. It's an old boat and I have no desire to attempt to make it a like new boat.

 

[BandB]

My experience with crazing is knowing a number of Sunseeker owners with boats primarily in the 2000-2010 range. These are sold as gelcoat boats. The problem was attributed to cold damp conditions in the UK when built. That might apply also in the PNW. The solution was sanding as necessary, prepping, and painting. The ones I'm familiar with used Awlgrip and had no further problems, but a full paint job isn't cheap.

 

[Brooksie]

I had very extensive crazing, primarily below the waterline but worst section was right above the waterline. I spent many hours with a high pressure washer from different angles to chip away any lines that intersected. I then hit the worst cracks with a dremel. 80 grit, than a layer of West 105. It's very viscous so I doubt any went into the hairline cracks. Sanded, primed, and painted. 2 years now and cracks are still hidden.
I did not go down to the laminate. It's an old boat and I have no desire to attempt to make it a like new boat.

That sounds like me but I doubt many if any chips would fly off with a pressure washing. The cracks are SOOO fine and maybe filled with wax that I don't know if anything will go into them and stay in them but whatever it is will have to be pushed in. That's why I was thinking of rolling with someone following along with a squeegee going in 4-5 different directions to push the stuff in. The thinned down saturation epoxy isn't very strong I hear. Maybe repeated solvent washes and pressure washes b/4 and after sanding would get it down where a layer rolled on and squeegeed in with another layer or two hotcoated over it would seal the cracks and prevent future cracks too. The priming and painting I have done many times b/4 on other peoples boats so that part doesn't bother me.