Design and Manufacturing of Versatile Recreation Boat

This project report details the design and manufacturing of an inexpensive, versatile recreation boat using a modular design approach, with a strong emphasis on material recyclability. The project considers marketing, management, modeling, manufacturing, and cost (4MandM) to develop a two-person watercraft that creates new market space. Fiber-reinforced plastic is selected as the primary material due to its desirable properties. Safety is paramount, with rigorous testing to ensure operational stability. The report covers concept development, material selection, manufacturing processes, cost analysis, and maintenance considerations. Ethical issues related to product liability and safety are addressed. The design specifications emphasize affordability, ease of assembly and storage, and multi-purpose functionality. The project aims to deliver a user-friendly, economical recreational boat that integrates sustainable and modular design principles, with a focus on establishing a value chain cycle between the customer and manufacturer through the use of recyclable materials.

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF A FUNCTIONALLY VERSATILE
RECREATION BOAT
PREPARED BY:
DATED:
Executive Summary
This report provides a written work on the project for design of an inexpensive, versatile
and aesthetically proven recreation boat using the modular design and manufacturing
approach. Besides, great consideration is given to the material recyclability as an
essential component of value chain reestablishment between the customer and the
manufacturer. Now, the materials making the boats were thoroughly reviewed before
being selected for the purpose of boat building. Notably, fiber reinforced plastic was
selected as the best materials as it largely met the criteria that were used for the
selection. Admittedly, safety of design and manufacturing was essential to ensure
operational and structural integrity of the boat. Consequently, the finished product was
taken through a rigorous test to ascertain the operational stability and performance of
the said product. In this regard, a number of areas were identified that needed further
improvement as captured in the recommendation section.

Table of Contents
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING OF A FUNCTIONALLY VERSATILE RECREATION
BOAT.................................................................................................................................1
Executive Summary...........................................................................................................1
Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Problem Statements..........................................................................................................6
Research Scope................................................................................................................7
Investigation of Existing Knowledge..................................................................................8
Ethical Issue.....................................................................................................................10
Design Specifications......................................................................................................12
Development of Design...................................................................................................13
Concepts......................................................................................................................13
First...........................................................................................................................13
Second......................................................................................................................16
Third..........................................................................................................................20
Decision Matrix of Final Concept.....................................................................................23
Selection of Final Design.................................................................................................24
Fiberglass.....................................................................................................................25
Wood............................................................................................................................25
Aluminium.....................................................................................................................26
Steel.............................................................................................................................26
Decision Matrix on Materials Options..............................................................................28
Manufacturing..................................................................................................................29
Manufacturing Processes............................................................................................29
How to Minimize Manufacturing Waste Materials........................................................31
Cost in Details..............................................................................................................31
Maintenance....................................................................................................................33
Discussion and Results...................................................................................................34
Recommendations...........................................................................................................37
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................38
References.......................................................................................................................39
Appendices......................................................................................................................41

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 : Antrium 40’ racer
Figure 2: Sketched design concept 1(a)
Figure 3: Sketched design concept 1(b)
Figure 4: Sketched design concept 1(c)
Figure 5: Sketched design concept 2(a)
Figure 6: Sketched design concept 2(b)
Figure 7: Sketched design concept 3
Figure 8: Patterning of layout
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Decision matrix
Table 2: Material cost and density
Table 3: material selection decision matrix
Table 4: Cost of manufacturing

Introduction
This project is built upon the following four pillars; Marketing, Management, Modelling,
Manufacturing and Money (4MandM). The project is part of a two man team project and
involves a novel study based upon entrepreneurial engineering to develop a two person,
modular and inexpensive water craft which creates new market space. Fundamentally,
the design follows the modular design approach which encourages minimum number of
parts and in a simplified fashion. In this case, symmetrical balance will be very essential
so as to easily locate the insertion points of the various parts and facilitate easy
assembly and disassembly. In this regard, a number of concepts were proposed and
concisely reviewed based on the selected performance and design criteria. Notably,
issues like product safety and versatility featured prominently. Finally a design that
largely met the criteria by scoring higher points was selected and developed further.
Admittedly, as earlier mentioned, there are a number of factors that must be considered
from the project onset and this has been summarised into 5 main pillars that holds the
integrity of this project and they include: Marketing, Management, Modelling,
Manufacturing and Money. It is desired that the design stays within the requirements of
the intended customer while ensuring the operational and engineering realities come to
the fore. For instance, one of the customer requirements is that the said product should
be affordable within an optimized performance baseline. This then pushes the designer
to conduct a materials selection review in order to choose the right materials that are
relatively cheaper but structurally fit to withstand the forces and stresses imposed
during boat rowing and other operations. Secondly, the boat is to be aesthetically
designed so as to ‘sell itself’ otherwise even with the right combination of materials and
performance, it is likely to attract less customers in the market. Admittedly, therefore,
quality of workmanship especially finishing aspect must be beyond reproach.
Now, what are the expectations from this project? The aim of this project is to design
and build a more user-friendly, functionally versatile and more economical recreational
boat that integrates the principles of modular design, manufacturing and assembly.
Furthermore, in order to realise the set objectives, there will be need to establish an
effective system of management of entire project right from the onset where problem

definition and project mission statement is developed till the customer purchases the
product and provides the useful feedback for further improvement. Therefore, this is a
complex end-to-end system of project management that must deliver value to both the
customer and the manufacturer. It is the responsibility of the Lead Project Engineer to
ensure that the project goes through and is successfully completed within the time and
budget constraints. Therefore, in this case, a section on manufacturing process details
the step by step of production of the listed boat parts. Ideally, flexible manufacturing
system would need to be deployed should the product market space widen as
envisaged. FMS ensures parts are produced quickly, more efficiently and in large
quantity per production cycle hence proving more economical; but only for large product
volumes with insatiable demand at all times. Otherwise for a start, the product parts
manufacturing and assembly will have to be implemented manually hence quality of
workmanship is an essential component of Manufacturing. Zero to minimum errors
should be the only variables to be tolerated.
Lastly, cost optimization techniques are to be employed in order to ensure that both the
customer and manufacturer gain value for their individual efforts. One way of facilitating
this approach would be to ensure that a concrete value chain cycle is established. For
instance, in the use of recyclable materials by the manufacturer, the life cycle of the
materials making some of the parts can be traced such that once the customer finishes
using the product and its lifecycle elapses then it is returned to the manufacturer for
reuse; this then creates a double-gain model for both parties as the old parts are sold to
the manufacturer by the user and the manufacturer further creates value by
manufacturing the product using the recycled materials hence decreasing the marginal
costs of design and manufacturing.
Therefore, the project explores various aspects involved in design and manufacturing of
the said product by integrating the principles of sustainable and modular design and
manufacturing hence let the work begin.

Problem Statements
Need Statement
There is need to design and build a multi-purpose, light weight, inexpensive and
modular, two person water craft for recreational boating purpose.
The Objectives
The objectives of this particular part of the project are to:
(i) Determine materials and design requirements for a recreational two person
water craft which will;
a. Maximise strength and minimise weight
b. Allow for ease of storage and assembly (thus modular in construction)
c. Validate structural and system effectiveness i.e. document design, testing
and quality control
d. Include safety as a primary specification when considering the product
and user operating system. This requires a clear specification of all
operating conditions and environmental factors; embodiment design
based on well proven engineering principles; thorough testing and
evaluation of component durability under overload and adverse conditions;
and evaluation of limits of safe operation.
e. Determine materials and manufacturing process (processes) which will be
used to produce the final product at a cost of no more than $4500 NZD.

Research Scope
This recreational water craft must be designed and tested before 8th February 2018.
Subsequently, a thorough investigation must not only be conducted on existing and
competing products but also there is need to focus on areas such as:
 Concept design
 Embodiment and detailing
 Design specification – including both safety and designing to recognised
standards
 Application of accepted analysis techniques
 Methods of construction and testing
 Making permanent records of history of product design and development
 Communicating methods of operation and maintenance via an operator and
service manual.

Investigation of Existing Knowledge
At the centre of this project are the materials and manufacturing process aspects. A big
portion of existing knowledge considers the materials properties vis-à-vis the conditions
of performance. According to Golpinar (2005), the most commonly used material for the
boat body is fiber reinforced plastic which offers such desirable properties as: being
heat resistant, easy maintenance, low cost maintenance requirements, lightweight and
being very competitive. Besides, it allows for more complex shapes to be produced
hence it can be used to fortify the aesthetic value of the boat. Additionally, materials
such as wood, steel, aluminum, and composites are often used in place of fiber
reinforced plastic (Golpinar, 2005). Now, why do we consider selection of materials so
essential?
As mentioned earlier, materials for making the boat has huge impact on the safety
performance (Gougeon, 2005). One typical material that greatly assures on both
structural integrity and optimized boating performance is the fiber reinforced plastic.
Notably, the fiber reinforced plastic is a special case of the ‘sandwich effect’ (Sandcore,
2000). The term ‘Sandwich’ from the etymological definition means, in this context, a
material is placed between two other materials of different nature. This greatly improves
the mechanical properties tenfold (Winarto, Eddy, Liza, & Syamsul, 2015).
Additionally, it is also essential to revisit the available boat profiles.

Figure 1: Antrim 40' Racer / Cruiser Trimaran-hull: Composite sandwich construction
with Kevlar and carbon fiber reinforcements. WEB_1 (2004)

Ethical Issue
The law requires that a manufacturer must proactively integrate safety in their designs
and create no concealed danger; that manufacturers provide all needed safety devices
as part of the design of a product; and that the design of a product utilises materials of
adequate strength and complies with accepted standards.
This project requires consideration of design aspects concerning product liability and
therefore must adhere to:
1. Industry and government standards to lessen possibility of product defects
2. Test before any sale – design modified to eliminate failure modes
3. Use of quality control procedures to ensure sound designs are properly
manufactured
4. Evaluation of product/system relationships, which includes warning user of
potential hazards or foreseeable misuse
5. Document design, testing and quality control for possible reference in any liability
suite
6. Integration of warning labels into the design process
Furthermore, the following ethical issues must also be considered:
 At all times place responsibility for welfare, health and safety of the community
before responsibility to sectional or private interests
 Act in order to merit trust in the community and dignity of the profession as an
engineer
 Offer services or advise on or undertake an engineering assignment, only in
areas of competence
 Apply skills and knowledge, without compromising the welfare, health and safety
of the community

 Take all reasonable steps to inform the community of social and environmental
consequences

Design Specifications
After doing a strategy canvas on the boat market in different category such as boats for
fishing, sailing, sports, or fun, it can be concluded that the 4MandM boat project has to
be designed by the following specifications:
1. The final product must not exceed NZD 4500.
2. The weight of the boat should not be more 200 kg.
3. Minimum two person or more side by side.
4. Must be designed for ease of storage and assembly (not using bolts for big
parts).
5. Maximum length must be 3m and beam 1.7m.
6. The boat must be designed for multi-purposes (at least three tasking).
7. Must use very light materials (i.e. cardboard, plastic, wood, etc).
8. The product must be designed to withstand the environment that is built for.
9. The boat must be very strong even if it is light.
10. Must be stable on the sea/water.
11. Minimum speed of the boat is 6 hp.
Notably, in making the boat “easy to assemble and store”, the modular design approach
requires the parts configuration to be such that they can easily be broken down into
relatively small parts and then lock mechanism can easily be used for assembly and
disassembly without sacrificing the operational integrity of the boat. Besides, other
methods can be reviewed and adopted should the lock mechanism prove inappropriate
in some sections of the boat. Now, the boat must always be stronger when using very
light materials. In this case, some special coatings for waterproofing can be used.
Besides, some special foams of boat filling for the hollow sections can be applied as
well.