Advice on the Cracked Part of my Boat Paint

[Goomba]

As I am new to boating, I plan on renovating my small boat. the most serious problem with the boat is cracking paint that is an eye soar. It looks to be where the boat sat and rainwater collected and evaporated and cracked the paint.

First I would like to know if this is regular boat paint because it is on the seats, or is it something else?
And would scraping it down to further damage to the layers below? same question about sanding.

here are some pictures of the cracked paint.


zoomed out.

you can see on the last picture where the rainwater sat and dried up.


Thanks for the advice.
Evan

[delmarrey]

Are you sure that is paint. It looks like delaminating gelcoat. Pull off a piece. If there is fiberglass stuck to the back of it then it's gelcoat. Either way you'll have to strip it down the the base material.

If the boat stays wet all winter, that's not good. Polyester resin absorbs moisture.

I'd redo it in an epoxy/glass coat and then repaint with a marine quality paint. And at least put a tarp over it when not in use. The worst thing is, if it's wet and freezes, then it peels up more and more of the coating with each freeze.

[Goomba]

yeah, supposedly the previous previous owner stored it well, but the joe I bought it from could care less. I have a garage, and it will be comfy in there, but it needs a lot of TLC this winter.

Thank you Delmarrey.

Evan

[capt.bobfm]

Looks to me like it's several layers of a very hard paint with no primer. You have to prime! Don't use any paint that doesn't need primer and don't put a finish coat on without. Contrary to popular belief,fiberglass expands and contracts with the conditions,so get paint that is a little elastic. Talk to your local paint dealer (not home depot or lowes) and ask what he recomends. Don't be suprised if it's porch and floor enamel.