Repairing Chipped / Flaking Gel Coat

[Kliva]

Hi CF,

First time posting here, and I'm hoping somebody can give me a little advice...

I'm currently looking at a Balboa 20 (early Lyle Hess boat) for day sailing on the ICW. This particular boat is quite a drive away to obtain, so looking at it prior to committing to make the drive (~1k miles) is not possible. The price is right, and the trailer and outboard are relatively new... but one particular area has me worried.

The gel coat in the cockpit seems to be badly chipped around the transition to the seats/lockers, and the non-stick looks to be suffering from the same affliction. Here's a photograph...



So that you're able to zoom in a little more, the link to the large photograph for up close viewing is....

http://i.imgur.com/evDwxM2.jpg

As you can see, there is quite a bit of chipping and flaking.. and the non-slip looks like it's almost chipping underneath. There are no other problems of this nature on the rest of the boat, and I'm just curious if you all's expert eyes can tell me how bad this is. Is it reasonable to expect that water entered via the chipped areas, causing the non-slip to bubble in that manner?

With respect to refinishing the cockpit floor, how difficult is this job, both in time and money? Is there any reason this could/should be a deal killer for me?

Thank you for your advice!

[newhaul]

Actually no I would not consider it a deal breaker 1) the non skid is molded inland is the gel coat just looks to have been painted with awlgrip of similar. 2) the chipping appears to be minor in the pictures repair is easy and not to expensive likely under a c note if you do the work yourself 3) Lastly I don't see any bubbles in the gel coat just looks to me to need a good scrubbing. ( elbow grease is the most used item on a boat ) and the cheapest.