Is a Pony Bottle too complicated for a beginner?

[Jayfarmlaw]

If you have to ask...probably. There are no scuba police. You can do anything you feel froggy enough to do and no one will stop you, but the consequences of your decision are on you as well. Only you can make the determination if your skill set is capable of whatever skill you are working on.

Set your rig up, find a buddy, jump in a pool, blow some bubbles. Try it mounted, slung, across your waist, however you like it best. Swap regs, color code your hoses, color code your regs, tie a big friggin ribbon on one, it’s your rig. It’s also your life.

When diving with a pony doesn’t wreck your buoyancy, you can find the pony reg by muscle memory, and manage not to kill yourself in the pool...then you can answer the question for yourself.

If piece of mind of having extra air is what your after, you can always get a bigger tank if the pony doesn’t work out.

I do applaud you for the pony initiative. I’m not a fan of the buddy system.

Good luck,
Jay

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If piece of mind of having extra air is what your after, you can always get a bigger tank if the pony doesn’t work out.

If you have a catastrophic gas loss, like a first stage failing shut (extremely rare I will admit), that doesn't help. Even for buddy diving, i recommend redundant air

 

[johndiver999]

i personally like the fact that you are considering getting a second tank.

i do agree that you should have a good basic skill level before adding one though. good buoyancy, trim, etc etc

as mentioned above, you will also need to make sure the bc you use is capable of slinging it or sidemounting it. don't mount it to the tank. a rear inflate bc or a bp/w would be best as you can shift the gas around in your bc to help offset the weight of the extra tank.

there is a lot of different terminology around our industry. i would not consider a 13cf bottle to be "pony" or "redundant" gas supply. i would consider it to be a "bail out" bottle. and by that i mean it would really only be sufficient (on a deep dive) to either safely make it to your buddy, or to do an emergency solo ascent. but still better than having no extra gas. i used to carry a 6cf. or of you were ding no deeper than say 60 feet it would e more than enough.

but if you want to carry a true redundant gas supply i would consider AT LEAST a 19 cf tank. but it really depends on the type of diving you are doing and how deep you may be.

Can you be more specific about what unique difficulties originate from using a jacket BC and a tank-mounted pony bottle?

Also, you comment about the necessity to "shift gas around" when using a pony bottle is not something i understand. If the OP is talking about a 13 cu-ft pony bottle, the weight (negative buoyancy) of that tank and regulator can't be more than a couple of pounds. Why not just figure the negative weight in water and add another equivalent piece of lead on the belt, harness weightbelt or cam strap to balance? I see no need to try to move air around to account for the potential asymmetric weighting.

it seems like you are making it out to be more difficult than it is.

 

[Scuba Client]

I am new to scuba diving with only a couple dives under my belt. I am a little OCD and tend to pay attention to my gauge more than enjoying the dive as I am always worried about my pressure. I have a 13cf pony bottle. Would being a new diver and having the pony tank connected to my main tank for the piece of mind confuse me and be tougher for me starting out? When I started paramotoring, they recommended not flying with a reserve because it is more likely to accidentally deploy and cause more problems.

Providing you dive with a computer, look at your SPG every 10 minutes. Extend it out to 20 minutes. Work out your Surface Air Consumption. Then do a modest calculation for air consumption. 20 Respiratory Minute Volume x Depth 3 ATA x 30 minutes = litres.
Download US Navy Diving Manual and NOAA Diving Manual 4th edition.

 

[KenGordon]

Only you can make the determination if your skill set is capable of whatever skill you are working on.

A beginner cannot know that. This is partly why there are so many people who say how rubbish their initial training turned out to have been when they see proper divers.

 

[gamon]

And what happens if your pony reg freeflowed during the dive and you hadn't noticed? What would happen if you forgot to fill the pony, or forgot to open the valve before the dive and couldn't reach it when you were out of air?

I have a transmitter on the pony tank and receiver on my left wrist (in addition to a transmitter and receiver on my right wrist for my primary tank) so I always know the pressure. I always take a few breaths off of each regulator before splashing.

Good questions, thanks for asking.

 

[FishWatcher747]

On the topic of jacket BC. On my Aqualung Pro HD it didn't have a Left shoulder D ring. So I added a D ring at the point of the Left shoulder quick release so I could sling a 19 cu ft pony on the left. In other words I stuck a D ring where it was never meant to go and not sure if it was perfectly structurally sound.

Since then I went BPW and put D rings anywhere I want.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

Several people have died confusing their back mounted pony regulator with their primary back tank regulator.

Those deceased seem to magically multiply each time this fantastical myth is repeated

Carrying a pony is easy peasy.
I've got an extra 30cf of compressed air, which allows me to draw my main tank reserve lower, thus extending each dive by as much as 500 psi

Ponies are not to be incorporated into ones gas plan as has been mentioned to you on several occasions. How about you just call your pony a stage and stop pushing your particular brand of diving

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Ponies are not to be incorporated into ones gas plan as has been mentioned to you on several occasions. How about you just call your pony a stage and stop pushing your particular brand of diving

Or independent doubles since it’s back mounted. He’s certainly not using it as a pony per any industry standard definition.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Carrying a pony is easy peasy.

I strap it to my main tank using a universal strap that connects directly to the main tank strap. It's behind me not interfering with my camera, and I've got an extra 30cf of compressed air, which allows me to draw my main tank reserve lower, thus extending each dive by as much as 500 psi, AND I've got the safety of redundancy throughout most of the dive.

When it comes to terms we can’t just make it up. There are industry standard definitions. Yours is not a pony bottle. What you really have there based upon your usage pattern is a kind of independent doubles. The way you use it it’s NOT a pony bottle.

You absolutely can dive however you wish. But be careful about co-opting terms and using them incorrectly. It can cause significant confusion especially for new divers.