The Scottish brothers Maclean are on the final leg of an extraordinary 9,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean, and they do so in a boat built with Formula 1 technology and over 40 custom 3D printed parts.
Their mission? To break a world record for the fastest crossing of the Pacific, without support, by rowboat, in three people. At the same time, they set out to raise £1 million for clean water projects in Madagascar.
Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan Maclean departed Lima, Peru, on April 13, with the goal of reaching Sydney, Australia. It marks their second ocean crossing challenge, after breaking a record in 2020, rowing across the Atlantic in just 35 days.
The Maclean brothers’ boat, built with Formula 1 technology
The brothers’ current boat, the Emily-Rose, is a purpose-built carbon fiber vessel designed in collaboration by the Maclean family and the Ocean Rowing Company. Weighing just 280 kilograms unloaded, the boat represents a dramatic improvement over the nearly 998-kilogram vessel used in their mission in the Atlantic.
Built from quality materials used in F1, the lightweight design allows it to sail the waves like a surfboard, while carrying enough supplies for up to 150 days. Its construction allows the team to remain completely unsupported throughout the entire journey.
Formlabs provided the team with a Form 4 3D printer and engineering resins to support their custom builds.
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Rowing in the ocean brings serious material gains
“Ocean rowing is a sport with marginal gains,” said Ewan Maclean, who also works as an engineer at Dyson, in an interview with Formlabs. “Improving efficiency by even a fraction of a percent throughout the day, in any field, means a lot.” This pursuit of efficiency has led them to design every part of the craft with performance and durability in mind.
The brothers trained for two years to prepare for the trip, including dehydrating more than 1,000 meals at home and performing both mental and physical conditioning exercises.
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3D Printed Parts
To optimize the boat’s performance, the Maclean family used a Form 4 3D printer and engineering resins from Formlabs to create more than 40 custom parts.
These included ergonomic seats, modeled from 3D scans of their bodies, a removable bed that can be installed in the back of the boat, and specialized mounts for satellite communication systems.
“What amazed me the most was where the new engineering resins ended up,” Ewan said. “The strength is really impressive, and it’s not far from what you’d see in a production piece.”
The boat is also equipped with a Starlink satellite mounted on a 3D printed device, designed to withstand UV, salt and impact. All of this is aimed at one goal, that of making travel faster, safer and easier to survive.
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