14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printers will probably need many more decades to become large enough to build boats, cars and other vehicles in one go, but until then, we at least have pretty models to gaze upon and wistfully sigh over.
Yam Marine Technology and Daniele Cevola Design Studio have teamed up for a series of ships modeled after traditional fishing boards found on Pantellaria, an Italian island.
This past weekend, the latest session of the Miami International Boat Show took place. Obviously, the two companies couldn't just drag some boats across the world just to show them off for two days.
Well, they could have done it, if they actually had the boats already. As it is, they do not. They need to build them first.
They still wanted to draw people's attention to their plans though. Plans for reviving the Livrea Yacht, or at least reinventing it with modern tastes in mind.
So Yam Marine Technology and Daniele Cevola Design Studio created a 3D printed model of their idea, called Livrea26.
The model was made pretty quickly with SLS technology, at 1:14 scale. It was made out of windform, a new additive manufacturing (AM) material.
Windform, a reinforced Polyamide, has been used to make the Italian Electric Superbike Energica from CRP Group, as well as items sent into space.
So it's actually pretty fitting for the newest use to be in maritime and river transportation, even though the Livrea26 is just a small model.
The original Livrea was made by Pantellaria carpenters from mulberry and maritime pine. The Livrea26 boat will probably be made of wood as well, but the ones behind the new boat line hinted, through the model, that windform might be used in future boats.
It'll probably take some years or months for such a boat or ship to be finished though, and even then, 3D printing probably won't be used for much, if at all. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time that a component or two were produced through such techniques.
