I was loading my boat (a 1984 Century Mustang 195) onto the trailer today and cranked the winch strap about 2 clicks tighter than I needed to because I suddenly heard a loud pop. I thought the strap itself had maybe torn, but it looked fine. Then I checked the bow eye and noticed that on one side of the metal plate it looked like the gel coat had cracked. I inspected just about every square inch of the hull before I bought this boat (less than a week ago) and I am almost positive that I would have noticed this if it had been there before. What I couldn't figure out was why it looked like a section had cracked and then sunken into the boat rather than been pulled out. When I got home I looked at it more closely and it looks like a layer of gel coat (or maybe paint?) cracked off? which is why it was not flush with the rest of the hull, but "sunken into" the hull. I have a couple small chips in the gel coat on the ledge where you board and you can see the fiberglass underneath. But this looks like a layer is missing and what's beneath is a chalky white surface. It also looks like this crack or chip extends under the metal plate of the bow eye and the back of the metal plate is now not in direct contact with the hull. If I stand to the side I can see a small space between the back of the metal plate and the boat. There was a tiny water pocket collected in there too. I am also not positive if it was like this before or if it happened today. My question is how big of a deal is this? Is it something I need to get repaired? Or should I just leave it alone and it will be fine? I will try to post some close-up photos tomorrow when it is light out if that will help.
