Any take on pony tanks?

[Uncle Pug]

"We have so much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it."
Willy Wonka

 

[SSRosecastle]

Me personally I like having a pony bottle. I do a lot of low vis. cold water diving in Eastern Canada. I'm a firm believer in self redundancy and not being dependant on a buddy. I know people who attach ponies with metal bands, but that fixes the bottle to the diver and it can't be passed off, another way is to use a nylon bag or a system that you can detach from the main tank and pass off (which I like). As far as running sep. regs, yup. I run one on my main bottle, and my secondary on my pony, so if something happens I have a completely redundant system. Some people say "well what if you pass it off, you only have one reg left" well, yes, but if I have to pass it off, something is wrong and the dive is over, its time to surface. That's just my opinion. There are lots of other threads about ponies here, on configurations and opinions. read up, ask questions.

 

[lovescorals]

Thanks to all for the great advices. As a beginner diver and a not-so-young, albeit a healthy guy, I assume that my future dives will be in groups with a dive master. I believe this should make it a lot safer.

As to ponies, how do you use them in case of emergency?
Release your main reg and hook it up to the pony? Does this manuever require training?

Me personally I like having a pony bottle. I do a lot of low vis. cold water diving in Eastern Canada. I'm a firm believer in self redundancy and not being dependant on a buddy. I know people who attach ponies with metal bands, but that fixes the bottle to the diver and it can't be passed off, another way is to use a nylon bag or a system that you can detach from the main tank and pass off (which I like). As far as running sep. regs, yup. I run one on my main bottle, and my secondary on my pony, so if something happens I have a completely redundant system. Some people say "well what if you pass it off, you only have one reg left" well, yes, but if I have to pass it off, something is wrong and the dive is over, its time to surface. That's just my opinion. There are lots of other threads about ponies here, on configurations and opinions. read up, ask questions.

 

[SSRosecastle]

Thanks to all for the great advices. As a beginner diver and a not-so-young, albeit a healthy guy, I assume that my future dives will be in groups with a dive master. I believe this should make it a lot safer.

As to ponies, how do you use them in case of emergency?
Release your main reg and hook it up to the pony? Does this manuever require training?

If you didn't have a pony bottle, you would have a 1st stage on your tank valve and 2 regulaters (your primary and secondary). In case of your primary failing, you would switch to your secondary and terminate the dive.
With a pony bottle, you have two options. You can still run a primary and a secondary off of your main tank AND on your pony bottle you also have a 1st stage with its own regulator, or you can run 1 stage and 1 second stage on each bottle. This gives you 2 complete seperate air sources. So you see there is no releasing your main reg...if you had an emergency (primary reg failure, out of air) you would just switch to your secondary regulator which is connected to the pony bottle and its own air source ( at which point you terminate the dive).

As far as diving with a divemaster in the future, that's fine, but remember, he may get to you in time...or maybe not. You are responsible for you. Skill and experience come with practise. Keep diving and your confidence will build up as will your experience.

 

[headhunter]

Welcome to ScubaBoard!

Don't forget to fill out your profile, so that we can add context to your future posts. Also, once we know where you are geographically, you may find that you'll have a whole bunch of new dive buddies to choose from.

You'll find that some people on the board love their pony bottles and that others think it's a bad idea to use them.

I'm not qualified to present the arguments either pro or con, but you may find that a search in the Tanks, Valves and Bands forum might prove helpful. You could also post a question there asking about the pros or cons of using a pony bottle.

Dive safe!

Christian

 

[Seabear70]

Snowbear...... you are nauty


As for why you don't want to rely on the buddy system??
You have only just passed OW don't run before you can walk.

What if your buddy is out of air, too?

 

[DandyDon]

What if your buddy is out of air, too?

Both of you need to watch your SPG and communicate your pressures as they go down. But it was boat pick buddies that got me to get a pony - and now I don't dive without it: 19 cf tank, seperate reg - always on, 4 test breathss at the start of every dive.

And - Howdy!

Welcome to SB!! :happywave Put us in your computer's favorites and check in often. This is a great place to learn, compare, argue Look around our various forums - everything from New-To-Scuba to Instructors-Only to Dive Medicine.

don

BTW - Did you set up your Profile? Some ideas for your Profle might be taken from looking at mine. Click on my Username to the upper left, then click on my Profile, and see what I've done. For your's, click the [CP] in the upper left of the screen, then click [Edit Profile]. If you need any help, PM me direct.