I’ve seen – and even tried out – power-generating bikes. In February, I noticed them at the airport in Paris where they were being used to charge cellphones. The next week, at the TED conference in Vancouver, I got to make a smoothie in a blender attached to a power-producing bike being demo’d there. Could this idea be a good one for our boat?

Someone on CruisersForum asked if there is a power-generating stationery bicycle so he could produce wattage while he got in his aerobic exercise on his boat. We’ve been thinking of upgrading our solar, adding wind, maybe a hydrogenerator to drag behind us on passages…but we hadn’t thought about pedal power.

I have a small stair-stepper for getting extra exercise while I’m on the boat, but it’s not set up to make and capture enough power.

But a bike? Hmmm.