Future of Boat Building

[JTMeissner]

As I work the refurbishment of my CP16 (currently down to fiberglass and concrete, all wood removed), I came across this article about 3D printing large objects, in this case, cars, using BAAM or big area additive manufacturing.  The thing that caught my attention was the ability to print a 20'x8'x6' object of plastic and chopped carbon fiber.  Seems like one could make an entire boat with no deck seam and all hardware points pre-determined.  Fill with ballast and add the hardware, a complete boat in a matter of days.

https://medium.com/backchannel/why-your-next-car-should-be-3d-printed-63dd19ff0254#.loq9lee4g

Sit down with the designer, pick your options, and 100% customizable.  If they can baseline a Shelby Cobra for $3000, imagine the drop in price for much less complex systems.

-Justin

[rbh1515]

3D printing is pretty cool stuff, but there is not much consumer stuff out there being made on a regular basis.  I have one thing that somebody 3D printed for my espresso grinder, but I have nothing else.
Rob

[capt_nemo]

Pressing a button on a 3D Printer to make a boat part just doesn't even come close to the feeling one gets when shaping a piece of wood by hand that is part of a boat build.

Try building a small simple boat with your own two hands - you'll be glad you did!

capt_nemo

[tmw]

As the article stated, things are changing rapidly in the 3d printed world.  I used to believe that it's not accurate, strong, and good enough for the precision, strength, and material requirements.  However, there continues to be improvements on all those dimensions, so I can easily see a world where 3d printing becomes mainstream, even if the end consumers don't realize the things were manufactured that way.

Heck, at my first job out of college (1994), I asked about using email, and was told, "the only thing you'd use email for is planning parties" and five short years later, the organization was addicted to email.  I can easily see 3d printing becoming the same type of thing, even though it's somewhat impractical for me today.

Thank you for sharing.

[Tom L.]

I don't know anything about 3D printing especially for boat building. But it sure sounds exciting and with a lot of potential.  What I do know is the cost for new boats is out of whack and unattainable by most people now days. Because the process is so much like one-off or prototype fabrications I can see it maybe being applicable to home boat builders.

There is a fair amount of people doing the stitch and glue process for wooden boats. Wood is great to work with but way to much of a maintenance issue for most sailors. Most of us want to sail not maintain a wooden boat. And resale for a wood boats is aw-full. So I think the market could be the home builder that likes to do his own work with the potential of saving thousands of dollars over a factory built fiberglass boat. A hull, a deck and various components in a kit form. Wow what a concept.

Many years ago Seafarer and Hunter did just that but the savings wasn't all that great. I had two friend buy two hunter 30 and finish the boats. One was better than factory the other not so great. But it is doable.  Maybe 3D printing will drive our cost down.

Tom L.

[brackish]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.  Exposed a lot of stuff folks don't normally know.  For instance, my "green" thinking friends who bought the Prius are comfortable in the belief that they are saving the planet.  Unfortunately the "cradle to grave" studies conclude that that choice is much worse for the planet AT THIS TIME than a highly efficient internal combustion engine vehicle.

3D printing used to be considered a good option for prototyping, in fact in my work world I've used the technology for just that.  Retired for a while now I haven't kept up, this article brings me up to speed so to speak.

With regard to building with wood, particularly stitch and glue, most are epoxy composite so the wood maintenance issue is negated.  In the process of finishing one up right now I've learned several things.  One, the savings are not as great as one might expect over a production GRP boat. The real value is in weight reduction which is very important for a power boat due to corresponding horsepower reduction, but not so much in sail boat that has to be ballasted anyway.  Two, I'm a woodworker primarily making fine furniture.  I found that I really enjoy the part of the boat build that is woodworking, but I greatly hate the part that is epoxy/glass related.  Consequently the thought of buying a bare hull and finishing it out is much more appealing to me than building a glass or composite hull.  So maybe the Hunter approach will have some merit in the future.

[Tom L.]

Brackish, I don't know if hunter still does the bare hull thing. Actually I think it was a small group that was an offshoot of Hunter Marine that provided the unfinished boats. My friends did this in the early to mid 70's. The boats were Hunter 30's. The hull and deck were bonded plus the engine was installed. All else was to be finished by the owner. With your wood working experience sounds like a great avenue for you.

Tom L.

[TedStrat]

The lobster boats in maine still offer "kit boats" consisting of hull and top....owner or "outside finisher" finishes the rest. The guy who owns the hull still makes money and can go on to the next build. Part of this is out of necessity because good labor up in these small shops is tough to find and keep. Sadly, 3D is the "next disrupter" and will change the way we think about how everything is made.

[Saluki86]

I was at a mfg tradeshow this summer and one of the exhibitors had a 10 speed bike and the frame was made out of titanium grown on a 3D Printer.  Had no idea the technology had moved on from plastics or other polymers.  It was ugly finish wise and very expensive (according to the booth attendent) but they were showing a video of a guy doing jumps and flips and crashing it and not damage.