Capot
Your boat repair may work and deal with the load transfer but at massive weight increase, as for filling in the gaps with gel coat I think that is just setting up for further problems in the future.
The whole point about the repair techniques so well discribed above by Volume is that the repair when finished is exactly the same as the original structure both in load transfer and weight.
What we are seeing above with all this talk of patches is a metalcentric view to load transfer and an assumption that the " glue" joint is weaker than the original structure, this is simply untrue, the "glue" or more correctly resin IS exactly the same as the original structure and so correctly installed will react exactly like the original structure. Therefore no additional patches or plates are required as long as a sufficient scarff area is avalable.