Pédalo is the word for those pedal propelled boats you can rent in touristy spots, like with the kids slide at the back. The rest of what you said about pédale is all correct.

Switch to English wiktionary for pédale and it suggests also looking at the shorter version of the word, where it is explained where it comes from and - guess what - you're exactly right.

Also pederast comes from ancient greek which explains how widespread it is. Pede/pederast is commonly used in Estonian as well, as an insult. Usually just the equivalent of faggot, but boy lover

I speak french and kid me imagined pédale was referring to the way a bike pedal rotates down with gravity the same way the stereotypical gay was walking with broken wrists. (Same as tapette) Yeah I'm not proud of how my generation treated the gays. Trying to do better with my kids.