Manufacturing Cementitious Bodies on Floating Platforms

A floating shiplift, comprising:

• a deck comprising deck caissons that are coupled to each other and float on a body of water, the deck caissons arranged to define a slip of the deck;
• an elevator residing in the slip and comprising elevator caissons that are coupled to each other;
• a hoisting system coupling the elevator to the deck and configured to selectively raise and lower and the elevator relative to the deck;
• and
• an additive manufacturing system configured to fabricate a cementitious body on the elevator by performing operations that comprise successively depositing layers of flowable cementitious material on top of each other.

A method, comprising:

• by operation of an additive manufacturing system of a floating shiplift, depositing successive layers of flowable cementitious material on top of each other to fabricate a cementitious body on an elevator of the floating shiplift, the floating shiplift comprising:
• a deck comprising deck caissons that are coupled to each other and floating on a body of water, the deck caissons arranged to define a slip of the deck, the elevator residing in the slip and comprising elevator caissons that are coupled to each other, and
• a hoisting system coupling the elevator to the deck and configured to selectively raise and lower and the elevator relative to the deck;
• and
• hardening the flowable cementitious material into a solidified cementitious material, thereby fabricating the cementitious body.