10 Weird Boats

10 Weird Boats Weirding It Up Across the Sea

Some high tech, some just weird.

 
By John Wenz

Concept cars come in all shapes and sizes, but boats can be weird too. These nautical creations can stretch good taste and good design to the limits, or even explore alien worlds. Or sometimes they do nothing more than look flat-out silly. Here are just 10 examples.

The Zipperboat
https://youtu.be/TvcvIVexmos

Yasuhiro Suzuki originally came up with the Zipper Motorboat in 2004, but it didn't shove off until 2010. Like many great and extremely weird things, it was art project and not a meant as a practical means of conveyance. No passengers were on this voyage as the vessel hadn't been tested for rollover risk. You can't exactly go skiing behind it, but maybe you can do some really slow-speed tubing.

The Plongeur

The history of submarines is surprisingly long, dating back to 415 B.C. The first submarine propelled by something other human power was the French Plongeur, which relied on compressed air to propel itself. It was first used in 1863, and was retired by 1872. The sub was the inspiration for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

The Marjata

Bulbous radome for protecting radar dishes. Helicopter landing pad. The shape of a clothes iron. The Marjata has it all. The Norwegian spy ship wades in Arctic waters to keep tabs on the Russians. The model you see above first set sail in 1992, though subsequent variants have gotten bigger and less interesting in shape.

The Titan Mare Explorer

Some things are just too good and pure for this world. That was the case of the Titan Mare Explorer, a proposed NASA mission to explore the hydrocarbon seas on Saturn's largest moon, Titan—the only other body in our solar system besides Earth to have liquids on the surface, thanks to its dense atmosphere. After years of proposals, the craft has yet to get approved by NASA, and likely never will be. Some weird boats will never set sail.

Duck tour boats

Duck tour boats are the worst of both amphibious worlds: bulky and slow on land, awkward and sluggish in the water. The duck tours began in the Wisconsin Dells in the 1940s, and have since spread internationally. The duck boats are often brought out when certain insufferable coastal sports teams win the Super Bowl.

The Kettuvallam

Houseboats are not usually works of art so much as utilitarian pontoons. But in the Kerala region of India, the Kettuvallam-style houseboat drifts through the waters with ornate thatched roofing, beckoning tourists aboard. The design dates back to 3000 B.C. and was originally used to transport spices and passengers along trade routes.

The Sea Shadow (IX-529)

Lockheed Martin built the Sea Shadow to be a stealth plane of the water, evading detection by conventional radar. From 1984 to 1993, the United States Navy tested it in secrecy before unveiling it to the public. It uses a SWATH design, in which two powered nacelles are submerged just under the surface of the water. The boat was dismantled in 2012 after the Navy unsuccessfully tried to sell it off.

The Yrvind
https://youtu.be/-K0OOxjii2U
Sven Yrvind is a Swedish artist and builder of small boats. The boat you see above, named the Yrvind after its maker, comes in at just barely over four meters long. Yrvind found its small form unsuitable for open-sea travel, however, and went on to build a slightly larger version.

Heaven

In 2003, a boat appeared at a University of California event that would forever change the course of nautical history. Just kidding. But the sail-paddle-pontoon does offer a reclining hammock to paddle yourself out to watery bliss. Alas, now it seems to be nothing but a faint memory.

Hell

In 2015, two men set sail in this boat made of glued together pieces of discarded insulation, which cost them nine pounds ($11) to build. It broke on its maiden voyage. As neither of the designers knew how to swim, and with no lifejackets on, the police had to rescue them.