2nd air source question

[hroark2112]

Have you ever finished a dive and thought “I got too much damn gear!”

Of course, dragging a rebreather, bailout bottles and deco bottles...that thought has crossed my mind more than once!

 

[Michael Guerrero]

A little off topic but simular- For you guys that do not bring a pony..... Do you use a second second stage ?? (Octo)

Yes, primary to donate (or if someone pulls it out of my mouth) and backup on necklace.

 

[Doby45]

I only ever "back mount" a pony (19cf) when I am spearfishing, other than that if I need a small spare or redundant air it is slung..

 

[Bowers]

i imagine youve thought about doubles with an isolation manifold.. doubles can get bulky quick though. but have you thought about mini doubles for a redundant rec setup? I have seen cavern divers using double steel 50s a few times, and i recently got a couple aluminum 40s for the same purpose.

 

[73diver]

You’ll likely get hundreds of opinions. I’ll share what I do for solo diving: (1) For recreational solo diving, I was taught to carry a 30 or 40 CF pony on the left side with regulator stowed and tank valve on. Unless I’m solo sidemount that is what use. (2) When I was an ERDI 1 diver, the requirement was to have a 30 or 40 CF tank strapped to the main tank and the second stage attached in the chest area.

I have made lots of dives in both configurations above and prefer the pony hanging on the left side. It’s also the configuration I use with a rebreather.

BTW I am a big fan of solo configuration even when buddy diving. Several of the divers in my dive club dive that way.

 

[Landlocked123]

I dive the near exact configuration you do. For dives less than 70 ish I use a HP 100 and 19Inch pony. For 70+ HP133 and 30 Pony. I think the setup is perfect for solo diving. The only real issue is it becomes less than optimal if and when you buddy dive. If my buddy goes OOA I donate the long hose and am stuck on the pony only. By myself no problem as I can bail out of the dive. What happens if buddy freaks out? Now I am tethered to him via long hose and losing precious minutes with no way to access my primary gas. This I think is the dilemma. I dont believe in BCD hose safe seconds. I think the next best setup would be a switch to doubles with a slung pony as you have several more options to handle an OOA.

 

[tbone1004]

@Landlocked123 you need to make a choice on how many failures you are going to choose to tolerate, which ones in which quantity.
For gas failures, in recreational diving that is typically one. If you have a gas failure, you go to your buddy and if you both have one then you have no choice but to CESA.
In technical diving we plan on more.

If you're going to be that paranoid about your buddy going OOA, then your buddy freaks out, then you made in inappropriate choice of bailout gas and should have carried more. If you are diving pony bottles it means going bigger, if diving singles, then it means reserving more for your rock bottom calculation, but in either instance you need to understand and calculate your rock bottom reserves and make sure they make sense. If they do, you don't have much of anything to worry about

 

[IncreaseMyT]

I dont believe in BCD hose safe seconds.

Is there a particular reason? I have an Atomic SST 1

 

[tbone1004]

Is there a particular reason? I have an Atomic SST 1

probably 2 dozen threads in the last 2 years on the subject. Most experienced divers and instructors don't believe in them

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Well I skimmed the thread and so far I have seen someone had a leak in one? And others say its not comfortable to use? Or am I missing something bigger?