Romain loves boats. Returning from an 8-year family trip when he was a child with his parents, the family set up a maintenance and renovation yard in Balaruc-les-Bains (34). The yard took the name of the family sailboat: Bilbo. Now a busy father, Romain has less time for sailing. But his creative ideas never cease, and as far back as he can remember he's always loved designing and building boats.
The pleasure of creating in 3D
For the past 2 years, Romain has been passionate about 3D printing. These small, inexpensive printers can be used to create parts. And when the evening comes, after a day's work, rather than going to the workshop and making polyester parts for his projects, Romain finds it easier to design them on a screen and wait for them to print overnight. Especially when you have a young child sleeping at home...
Why not an IMOCA?
IMOCA racing yachts are what Romain likes best. So he decided to design one for printing. Completely self-taught, he took photos of all aspects of Biotherm, skippered by Paul Meilhat for the Vendée Globe 2024, and based on his photos, drew a 1/21 scale model (84 cm hull). He spends every night imagining a working sailboat that resembles the real thing as closely as possible. In the end, he reckons he spent at least 1,300 hours drawing and between 30 and 40 kg of filament tested on his printer, which must have run for 3,000 hours...
Accessible to all
Its aim is to design parts that require very little finishing and can be printed on a standard printer with a 22 x 22 cm platen. An entry-level printer costing less than ?200. Romain doesn't work for himself, but his aim is to share this model and make it accessible to all.
The new Pt'Imoca
This miniature IMOCA, christened P'tImoca, is packed with technical features. Like the original model, it features a canting keel that angles as the leeward foil extends. From his remote control, the pilot can adjust this parameter as if he were at the helm of the IMOCA! This feat required hours of thought and design before arriving at the final version, which now works perfectly. The results of Romain's reflections were shared with the Biotherm team, and it's amusing to realize that the technical solutions for solving the problems are very close between the model and the real thing. These include the semi-circular foil well which runs through the entire boat, and into which the foils slide.
Plans available
Today, the 3D plans and manual are available for anyone wishing to start printing the Pt'Imoca. These plans are perfectly documented in a hundred-page assembly manual, which even explains which filament to choose and which materials are useful for building the model. Everything is described in great detail, right down to the construction of several sets of sails for sailing in all conditions.
And it flies!
At present, the first prototypes are sailing. From the very first outing, albeit in light winds, the Pt'Imoca settled on its foil and took off, sailing resting on its transom, just like the real thing. Romain is happy and is starting to distribute his plans. Some printers are even starting to build the yacht. Romain is happy to share his progress on the "Pt'Imoca, IMOCA RC en Impression 3D" FaceBook page. This is also where you can get in touch with his designer to obtain the plans (available for just ?50). In the future, they should also be downloadable from the Cult3D platform, which features designs for 3D printers.
