Stress cracks vs. gel coat spiders

[drewpster]

Here is a good example of stress cracks in gel coat in the first pic.

This is a corner at the splashwell of my transom. Notice how the major lines parallel? When ground into, I will find the cracking probably extends into the laminate underneath the gel coat.
If you look closely in the next pic you will see an example of crazing (gel spiders). Here you can see how the cracks tend to radiate out from a central point. This is not caused by stress and is only cosmetic damage.

Just thought it was a good example for the subject.