The Nautical Vessel

​​We have indeed made an attempt at a nautical vessel, although, similar to the Helilaunch, it did not go as planned. The unnamed nautical vessel was built using additive manufacturing, and was constructed out of polylactic acid, a poor material choice for the application.  There are two reasons why the project was discontinued: The first is the steering. It was to be achieved utilizing a geared motor with a potentiometer to reduce speed even further, however this was still much too fast for the application. The second is that additive manufacturing does not have perfect layer adhesion. This means the hull was not watertight, and developed leaks. Polylactic acid was a poor material choice because of the aforementioned layer adhesion, as well as the fact that it is not resistant to ultraviolet radiation. This meant that even if steering and leaks were not an issue, it would over time be weathered and be rendered unusable.