Too easy ... just need to convert the peddling motion to "flipper power" at
the back of the boat. Maybe pick up a mannequin, lop off the top half (don't
throw it away just yet), mount the lower half through the stern (aka
sterndrive), and set up some peddles and chain drive to a wheel at the back
with pins each side to which the mannequin legs attach, As the wheel turns,
the legs that pivot midpoint between the wheel and the flippered feet, start
flipping. For extra speed (remember I said don't throw away the upper part),
attach the upper part of the mannequin to the hull such that the arms are in
the water. Another chain from the peddles to those arms such that they do a
crawling motion, et voila ... yer laughing ... you and everbody else :-)


"William R. Watt" wrote in message
...

Any opinions on the feasibility of foot-operated water jet propulson for a
small boat like a canoe or kayak? I was thinking of mounting twin water
pumps on the (out)sides of the hull to suck water in the front of the
pumps and squirt it out the back through a smaller diameter pipe to make a
jet stream. The water pumps would be foot operated through levers and a
pivot. Got the idea from reading a book on ancient Roman engineering.
Could the legs and water jets produce enough propulsion to move the boat
at, say, walking speed? I think a separate pump on each side, powered
independently by the two legs, would allow the operator to steer the boat
by pumping one harder than the other to turn.

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