The time is the mid-1960s, when the station wagon was the Conestoga of prosperous post-World War II America. Wagons like this Buick Sportwagon Skyroof carried families on adventures hither and yon—Dad driving, Mom reading the map, Junior and Sis in the back seat, arguing. And sometimes a boat on a trailer towing astern. The family in this photo might be en route to Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, based on the Wyoming registration on their Evinrude Sweet-16. Jackson Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the U.S., with great mountain scenery all around, and is still a great place to go boating. 

The Sweet-16 was sold from 1964 through 1967, so maybe the kids are listening to music from the British Invasion on their pocket-sized radios, the ones with a single earpiece that gave you glorious monochromatic sound. Dad won’t have rock-and-roll music on the Buick’s AM radio; he likes Bing and Perry and Dinah. Mom’s in the middle: She likes the oldies, but also thinks that McCartney boy is cute. 

Not to be confused with the Donzi of the similar, but hyphen-less, name, Evinrude’s Sweet-16 was a radical design, right up there with the Beatles mop-top and the monokini. It rode on what Evinrude called a tri-hull bottom, basically a central V-hull with sponsons on either side. The sponsons added stability and, so the theory goes, made the ride smoother: Water thrown up by the V would be deflected downward by the sponsons to provide lift and minimize pounding. Evinrude called this Gull-Wing Hydraulic Lift. Did it work? Some classic-boat enthusiasts still enjoy their Evinrude tri-hulls, but for the most part a deep-V hull gave better all-around performance.

The Sweet-16 came with either outboard or newfangled OMC inboard stern drive power; look closely and you can see the outdrive on this boat. It was connected to an 88-horsepower V4 engine, a two-cycle affair like the outboards of the day. It had automatic oil metering (50:1 mix) from a remote oil tank, a built-in generator, and a push-button electric gearshift. The outboard-powered Sweet-16 could take up to 130 horsepower; a single Evinrude Starflite 90-S would have been a good choice.

Next stop, the lake!

This article originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.