• From: Chesapeake Bay
  • Registered: 2006-09-14
  • Posts: 79

Topic: Do I get an award for carziest idea ever? At least good for a laugh..

...You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'

I'll tell you "Why Not" - it's crazy.  But fun to think about.

I bike a lot when I am not doing something on Wander.  So, while biking, was thinking about how to marry the two and get some benefit. Given that I hate the beast under the board (my diesel), and want to figure out another way of getting propulsion (yuhong? outboard?), anyway...

Am also a fan of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which gives all you need to know about the genesis of the idea.

Have a mountable seat with a fixed gear and an extended bike chain attached to a large canvas windmill which would produce sufficient air current to move the boat a knot or two in dead air!  I know I can engineer the seat/pedal/gear configuration to be removable and stowable, and the mill/gear/post to also be removable/collapsable/stowable.  Now if I can just get a stereo installed to play the Wizard of Oz music which accompanies the mean lady up the road on her bike (she turns into the wicked witch in Dorothy's dream).

If you're not laughing now, you're not drinking enough...

  • From: Montreal
  • Registered: 2005-04-22
  • Posts: 259

Re: Do I get an award for carziest idea ever? At least good for a laugh..

Go one better.  Get an exercise bike and mount it in the bilge.  Rig a 90 degree turn from the chain and connnect that to the existing propeller shaft.  Pedal as required, and then drop the engine panel back in place to hide the contraption!

Too much fun!

p.s.  Any thoughts on stowing bikes on the Contessa.  Best I can think of are Dahon folding bikes but these are fabulously expensive.  Plus, where to stow?

  • From: Victoria B.C.
  • Registered: 2006-03-11
  • Posts: 171

Re: Do I get an award for carziest idea ever? At least good for a laugh..

In the former engine space.

  • From: Chesapeake Bay
  • Registered: 2006-09-14
  • Posts: 79

Re: Do I get an award for carziest idea ever? At least good for a laugh..

  • Adrian
  • Adrian
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2005-04-18
  • Posts: 542

Re: Do I get an award for carziest idea ever? At least good for a laugh..

I am actually surprised that pedal-powered generators aren't more common on boats. They seem like a good idea in a battery emergency.

I know that a human  being can't really generate that much power, but probably enough to operate a radio or something.

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