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I know this question has probably been asked hundreds of times but searching didn't reveal anything I was looking for.
I have a 1987 15' Whaler that I'm getting ready to restore. I'm not new to fiberglassing or painting. I've done it full time for a couple years and have been doing it part time for 10 years.
The question, how do I prep the interior to prevent the thousands of 1/8" to 1/2" cracks from reappearing? This will be the first time attempting a project like this on a Whaler. I've seen a couple that were painted with Awlgrip and the cracks reappeared through the paint less than a year later.
I haven't decided yet whether to paint it or gelcoat it. If I went with paint, I was thinking about using an epoxy barrier coat like Interlux's Interprotect to help with the cracks. Then Alexseal epoxy primer then topcoat. If I went with gelcoat, I'm not sure what to do about the cracks.

Any opinion or suggestions are appreciated.