World’s first 3D-printed boat takes to the water
Boat building chucks away the mould as the 3D-printed MAMBO rolls off the production lineAn Italian manufacturing company that uses robotic arms to build things has launched its own 3D-printed boat in a showcase of what the technology is capable of achieving.
Moi Composites said the MAMBO (Motor Additive Manufacturing Boat) was produced in a live demonstration as the world’s first “real, functional 3D-printed boat”.
Carla Demaria, the chief executive of Genoa-based marina I Saloni Nautici, said the 3D-printed boat was built using a digital design and a robotic arm, and without traditional models or moulds.
“It sounded crazy and fascinating to us so we decided to help,” Demaria said. “We always have the feeling of teaching to younger generations, sometimes we learn.”
The boat was built out of fibreglass using a process called continuous fibre manufacturing, which is able to follow designs that would ordinarily be almost impossible to make.
However, a video does show the boat being finished by hand before it is spray-painted with its distinctive blue hue.
Beating the impossible
“We pushed on the organic shapes of the boat with every single curvature being impossible to manufacture until today,” Moi co-founder and chief technology officer Michele Tonizzo said.
“Paying an ode to past centuries of boat craftsmanship and made-in-Italy heritage, MAMBO with its design and production methods, elevates hand-made work with modern, digitally made process, bringing design concepts only dreamed of before to life,” Moi said.
“MAMBO symbolises a beacon of the path untraveled, illuminating hope for a new era of design and manufacturing to follow, daring boat aficionados to truly build boats in their own way.”
Twin-hull design
The MAMBO measures 6.5 metres long and weighs in at 800kg. It features a distinctive catamaran design with large sponsons forward, and with the helm and a large sun pad set to starboard.
Powering the boat is a single Mercury ProXS four-stroke outboard engine.
The company did not disclose how long it took to build the boat.
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