Marine & Boat Parts
Chandlery prices are a running joke, and half the fittings on an older narrowboat or dinghy were never sold separately in the first place. Small fittings, trim and covers print well — provided you take the sun seriously and stay above the waterline.
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Get a marine & boat parts estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.
Common uses
- Cabin and cockpit trim, end caps, escutcheons and covers
- Vent covers, louvre fittings and mushroom vent trim
- Rope, fender and hose holders; hooks and tidies
- Dinghy fittings: bung retainers, mast step trim, tiller extension parts
- Instrument, phone and electronics mounts inside the cabin
- Obsolete cabin hardware: window catches, locker latch covers, curtain fittings
Above the waterline, and nothing that fails dangerously
Two hard lines, and neither is a hedge. First: nothing below the waterline. No through-hull or skin fittings, no seacocks, no bungs whose job is to keep water out, no plumbing that holds pressure or head. If a part's role is to stop the boat filling with water, it is not a printed part. Second: nothing that takes a real load. Mooring cleats and bollards, rigging and shackle components, tiller and rudder parts, steering components, anything holding a mast up or a boat to a bank. A printed part is layered and weakest across the layers, which is precisely the direction a mooring line loads a cleat, and it will let go in the weather that put the load on it in the first place. Gas, fuel and electrical items are out too — the Boat Safety Scheme inspects those for a reason, and a printed plastic part has no business in that conversation. What is left is a genuinely useful list: cabin trim, vent covers, light-duty holders, cosmetic fittings and interior spares for boats nobody supports any more.
Sun, damp and what survives a season afloat
The thing that destroys plastic on a boat is not salt, it is sunlight. ASA is the default for anything on the outside: it is genuinely UV-stable and stays tough in the cold. PETG for shaded and interior fittings. PLA belongs nowhere near a boat — a cabin roof in July gets past the temperature where it softens, and a closed cockpit locker in the sun is hotter still. Nylon is the one people reach for and should not, at least near a tight fit: it absorbs moisture and swells, and a nylon part in a damp bilge is a different size in October than it was in June. TPU is right for gaskets that keep dust and splash out — not water pressure. Expect colour to shift with sun exposure whatever we use; darker colours hide it better, and you own the file, so a reprint in three years costs materials.
Copying a fitting nobody stocks
Older narrowboats especially are full of fittings from builders who folded twenty years ago: window catches, louvre vents, cratch and pram hood fittings, locker latches, curtain track ends. Send the original — broken, in pieces, or the surviving one from the other side — or measurements and photos with a rule in shot. Screw centres, the section thickness a part clips over, spindle sizes and handedness are what decide whether a copy works, so those get measured twice. We share the file so you can offer it up before anything is printed in quantity, and a batch is the sensible order because a boat has six windows and they will all want the same catch eventually.
How it works
Send your file or describe the part
Upload an STL, OBJ, 3MF or STEP file, or tell us what you need with photos and a few measurements.
Get a guide price
When we can read the geometry we estimate from it straight away — material, print time, supports and quantity all priced openly.
We check printability, then confirm
A person reviews orientation, wall thickness and supports, flags anything that will not print well, and confirms your final quote before any work starts.
Marine & Boat Parts — example prices
Worked examples on real models from our print library, priced by the same calculator that estimates your own part. Sizes span small to large so you can see how cost moves with the part.
| Example part | Size | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J-Hook (small) | 23 × 34 × 10 mm | £1.28 – £1.63 | £1.36 – £1.73 | £1.54 – £1.96 |
| Wall Hook (small) | 25 × 20 × 35 mm | £2.02 – £2.58 | £2.13 – £2.73 | £2.40 – £3.06 |
| Wall Hook (utility) | 40 × 35 × 55 mm | £5.06 – £6.46 | £5.34 – £6.83 | £5.98 – £7.64 |
| Garage Tool Rail (6-hook) | 45 × 228 × 55 mm | £27.16 – £34.71 | £28.67 – £36.64 | £32.05 – £40.96 |
Guide prices for a single unit, calculated from the measured geometry of each example model — not fixed quotes. Small parts land at or near the £0 minimum order, and per-unit prices fall with quantity. Your price depends on your own part, its material and its printability. How pricing works.
Example models for marine & boat parts
Open-source designs from our print library that show the kind of part this service suits. View any of them for a full material and quantity price breakdown.
Corner Brace (large)
Control Knob (large)
Garage Tool Rail (6-hook)
Corner Brace (medium)
These are open-source example designs (CC0) we publish to show what the process suits and what it costs — not a record of past jobs. Prices shown are examples in PLA.
Marine & Boat Parts — FAQ
Can you print a through-hull fitting, a skin fitting or a bung?+
No, and this is not a case where we will make an exception. Anything below the waterline, anything whose job is to keep water out, and anything holding pressure or head is off the table. The failure mode is a sinking boat.
Can you print a cleat?+
Not a mooring cleat. That part holds a boat against wind, current and the wash of everything going past, and the load pulls in the exact direction a layered plastic part is weakest. A cleat cover, a small fitting for a flag halyard, a rope tidy — those are fine. The one holding the boat to the bank is metal.
Which material for a cabin roof or a deck fitting in the sun?+
ASA. UV is what kills exterior plastic on a boat, and ASA is the one that resists it while staying tough in the cold. PETG is fine inside or in shade. PLA will soften on a sunny cabin roof and go brittle within a season — we would not send it.
My narrowboat window catch is obsolete. Can you copy it?+
That is exactly the case for this. Send the broken catch or one from another window, tell us the frame section and the handedness, and we will recreate it. Once the file exists a set for every window on the boat is cheap.
How much does marine & boat parts cost?+
There is no fixed per-item rate — price comes from how much plastic the part uses, how long it takes to print, how much support and finishing it needs, and how many you want. The example table above shows what real parts of this kind work out at. Upload your file for a guide price on your own part.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the size of the part, the queue and the material. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before you commit.
Can I order one of the models from your library?+
Yes. Every model in our print library is a design you can have printed — pick one, choose a material and quantity, and the example price on its page is your starting point. You can also download the file and take it elsewhere; they are all CC0.
Are my files kept private?+
Yes. Uploaded files go to private storage, are never made public, and are only used to quote and produce your job.
Worth reading first
Practical guides that help you get a better part and a more accurate quote.
What Is TPU (Flexible Filament)?
TPU is printable rubber. It bends, grips, seals and absorbs shock — and it behaves nothing like PLA, which is the whole point and the whole difficulty.
Nylon and Carbon Fibre Parts
The engineering end of FDM. Nylon is tough and wear-resistant; carbon fibre makes it stiff and stable. Both are harder work — here is when that pays off.
ASA vs ABS for Outdoor Parts
Nearly the same plastic, one important difference: ASA survives sunlight and ABS slowly does not. Here is when that difference is worth paying for.
Other services
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Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.