Boat " ride " with Bond What does the world ' s top secret agent do on his day off ? 007 , alias James Bond , alias actor Sean Connery went looking at luxury yachts at London ' s international boat show but with two nice girls on hand and comedian Eric Sykes as " passengers " . He seems to have settled for one of the smaller jobs . Smaller job ? it may only be 400 centimetres long , but the makers -- Birchwood Boat co . -- must of had 007 in mind when they built it . They called the 4 seater , outboard engine job " Thunderball " after Bond ' s latest thriller film 5th January 1966