I've seen tons of 'glass boats with heavily oxidized surfaces without stress cracks in the non skid areas. In fact, I'd suggest that way more boats have NO cracks in the non skid areas, rather they are in the smooth areas around corners, where the laminate is thin, etc. Hell, I might argue that there is greater support for the laminate in the wafflely area of non skid than in any smooth section of similar laminate thickness.