This 'zip' boat design is the best thing you'll see all day

Boats come in all shapes and sizes, from humble punts to outrageous superyachts longer than football pitches. But we think this is one of the coolest designs we've seen. Dubbed the Zip-Fastener Ship, the curious watercraft is the work of Japanese artist Yasuhiro Suzuki. He set out to create a boat that would look like it's unzipping the water when in motion. And it's currently driving Reddit wild.

Suzuki's boat went through various iterations. It began as a radio controlled device in 2004 before being scaled up as a kind of pedalo and then appearing in a full-scale nine-metre long version that was able to carry passengers on Tokyo's Sumida River at the DESIGNART Tokyo 2020 festival.

The artist says he was inspired by a simple observation of how boats looked from above. He writes on his website: "When I looked down at Tokyo Bay from the window of the plane, the ships and wakes traveling in the sea looked like fasteners...  I wanted to build a huge zipper ship that people could ride on, open up the ocean, and see it from the mountains and the sky."

The zip theme even continues with the seating pattern inside the ship in order to make effective use of limited space. Suzuki says: "People sat facing each other and their legs happened to alternate, and they looked like metal fittings with fasteners."

Although the vehicle was unveiled last year, it's still making a splash online. "This is f*cking genius," one Redditor comments, while another adds, "When something looks this amazing, it's always Japan." 

From those unseen Porsche concepts to Mini's 'living room car', we've seen some truly bewildering vehicle designs over the last few months. Did we need to see a boat that appears to unzip the sea? No? Are we glad we've seen it? Absolutely. If you're inspired to design your own weird and wonderful method of transport, check out the best 3D modelling tools available right now.

• The floating ship optical illusion just keeps on giving
• Google celebrates Suez Canal liberation with hilarious Easter egg
• Eiffel Tower optical illusion stuns Paris