this is not the latest in boat design, though it might look like one and we would obliged to think it will still look pretty out-of-this-world even in fifty years time. in fact, it was a designed circa 1950 by maritime company Evinrude and was said to be the work of Brooks Stevens. while the U.S. military had experimented on flying saucer flying contraption without any obvious practical success, this Evinrude outboard fishing boat, aptly named Flying Saucer outboard, was the opposite. it did sail, albeit briefly. however, we shan’t question the boat’s hydrodynamic efficiency and we also can’t say if it had seen any commercial success. if not, we would be seeing similar design today. anywho, the Flying Saucer fishing boat was the first of its kind to be built and had seen trial runs, reportedly on Milwaukee River and had even graced the 1957 New York Boat Show.
it was built at a cost of $14,000, a princely time at that time (which based on inflation, would be over a 100 grand), with the intention of encouraging boat builders to think outside box. the flying saucer-like watercraft was powered by two outboard motors of 18 horses each and could ferry an entourage of up to eight persons. it was without doubt, the most radical design of its time, or we dare say, by today’s standard and should be worthy the namesake of ‘fishing saucer’. unfortunately, the law of physics do not quite allow anything too radical that will contradict good hydrodynamics. it was a nice discovery for us and we appreciate the fact that the 1957 Evinrude Flying Saucer Fishing Boat had tickled our dream of a The Jetsons-like future, once.
images: Milwaukee Art Museum
source: (1) (2)
via Vintage Sports Pictures