In the context of shipbuilding, the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a visualization tool has been demonstrated [1, 2]. However, many conditions must be met for VR to be widely adopted in the shipbuilding industry. It primarily must be seamlessly integrated into current workflows. The shipbuilding industry will likely first need to tame its data with efficient models accessible throughout the ship’s lifecycle. However, some productivity issues with VR have not yet been identified clearly. While working to develop a VR design tool for ship outfitting, it became clear to us that there is a need for industrydriven development of efficient data interaction and manipulation tools in VR. As an example of such new manipulation tools, we are currently developing a new way to input text in VR that is efficient and easy-to-learn through handwriting. The evaluation of this system highlights the need for more controlled and systematic testing of VR tools in the shipbuilding industry to justify investments and adoption.