Burt doesn’t fish and said he isn’t interested in owning a conventional boat. “So having something that would be a high-speed boat, a very efficient boat for Lake Coeur d’Alene, and then convert into a seaplane to go to the rivers and small lakes and elsewhere is what I’m trying to do,” he said. He plans to keep it in a single-car garage at home rather than in a boat slip.

At the current time, this is just a research project with “some unique characteristics, particularly the propulsion,” on which Burt would not elaborate and isn’t interested in sharing until he can prove it works. “I don’t even know what it will look like. I’m not ready to build it yet,” he said. “I have about three different options right now. This is in very preliminary stages.”