Best advice to fix this gelcoat crack

[njmr2fan]

I was climbing around the bottom of the boat cleaning and waxing and found this. Im not really sure how long its been here, and how much water has been soaking the underlying fiberglass. I do know that it's been a long time since its seen water, so it's definitely dry right now. Fill it with a marine-tex product? Grind it to the fiberglass and attempt a new coat of gelcoat? Grind out the crack in a V and fill it gelcoat? Appreciate the expertise!

 

[Scottintexas]

I'm having a hard time picturing what part of the hull this is on a 19'

I might even just do the marine tex if it's not in a visible area,

 

[Wishfull1]

It appears to be the end of a strake, stern, under the swim platform.

 

[njmr2fan]

Thats exactly where it is. Rearend of the strake. Wondering how much I should pick at it or grind it or simply fix it with epoxy...

 

[tdonoughue]

I would use a Dremel to widen it slightly and fill it in with some Spectrum gel coat repair stuff. That looks small enough that one of the small jars should do it plenty. I would say this is a small and non-urgent job.... And probably a good place to start learning gel coat. These look like just non-structural stress cracks to me. Maybe something got bumped or something. A good training ground for you!