I recently carried out a repair to my boat using a 3D printed part in the process. There was a leak around my depth transducer housing, and I could either pay £300 to have my boat hauled out, lie alongside and let the tide fall, or effect a repair while the boat was in the water. I opted for the latter, but needed to halt the ingress of water between the housing and the surrounding GRP. I designed a plug and printed it on my 3D printer which, when inserted, stopped the ingress completely and allowed the housing to be re-glassed into the hull. With the plug installed the repair took no more than a couple of hours, and saved a lot of time and money.

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