3D printing finding traction in boat production

It’s hard to believe it has been nine years since Airbus Industries manager of emerging technologies and concepts, Peter Sander, gave his groundbreaking presentation at the 2015 METSTRADE on the potential of 3D printing to revolutionize the recreational boat building sector.

Sander predicted that additive manufacturing technology – or 3D printing – had the potential to significantly improve profits for boat builders who embraced it, illustrating his point with direct examples from the aviation sector. “The fact that the FAA is now certifying 3D-printed aircraft engine parts proves beyond doubt that authorities recognize the technology,” he said. “3D printing can offer weight savings of between 30% to 35%, a reduction in tooling costs of as high as 90%, much faster production times and a far greater degree of creative freedom.”

Just two years later METSTRADE hosted its first roundtable on the use of 3D printing and rapid prototyping in boat building. A second roundtable followed in 2019. Then Covid arrived, and the entire leisure marine sector wondered (1) if it would survive, (2) how it would meet an explosive demand for boats (3) how it would mitigate crushing supply chain and logistics challenges and (4) how to overcome rapid interest rate hikes that have kneecapped consumer demand while increasing costs for manufacturers and dealers alike.

3D printing technology, in the meantime, has continued to evolve at a lightning pace. While the technology may not yet be ready to generate boat hulls in high volumes for serial production vessels, it has shown considerable promise in the production of molds for everything from small internal parts to entire yacht hulls.

Indiana, US-based 3D printing giant Thermwood Corp says its LSAM 3D printer can produce hull molds for a range of vessels, enabling manufacturers to modify or replace full hulls and deck plugs at a comparatively low cost and with minimal disruption of production schedules.

The company has worked with White River Marine Group – the multi-brand boat building business of US retail chain Bass Pro Shops – to 3D print production tooling for the company’s Tahoe T16 fibreglass runabout. It’s the first time 3D printing has been used on boat production at this scale, according to Thermwood, noting the use of 3D printing technology led to greater efficiency in the planning, design and construction of the boat.

The company’s Vertical Layer Printing (VLP) technology allows a hull pattern to be produced as a single-piece master pattern in just two days, upon which multiple molds can be created. “Master patterns such as this are used to make molds for high production rate applications, where multiple molds are typically required,” says the company. “For larger boats or lower production rates, it is possible to print the mold itself rather than a pattern.”

The company recently illustrated the point by 3D printing a mold for a 51-foot yacht. Because the yacht is larger than the printers used to fabricate it, mold sections are printed then bound together both chemically and mechanically using high strength polymer cables. The halves then bolt together to form a complete female mold for the yacht hull. Once the hull has been laid up and fully cured, the two sides are un-bolted and slid apart to release the finished component.

The company says that testing continues, with major boat builders having expressed significant interest in the technology.

While additive manufacturing technology may still not be quite ready to manufacture complete boats at serial production volumes, the technology is set to potentially play a much greater role in recreational boat production by simplifying mold production and reducing tooling costs for builders while dramatically accelerating the tool building process.

Who wouldn’t like that?