Best method to carry a 13 cu ft pony with reg

[Kharon]

... anyone being interested in a more advanced rig or solo diving, he is going to know that a 13 cf pony in those situations will be as useless as tits on a bull.

Bushwah!!! I dive almost exclusively solo and regularly to 100-130'. I easily ascend to a safety stop of 5 minutes from those depths and then to the surface with gas left in the 13 cf pony. No calculations involved - practice runs and breathing heavy to simulate fear.

 

[kwinter]

I could be wrong, but I think the minimum recommended size for solo certification from any agency I've heard about for dives over 60 feet would be 19 cf/3l. Of course if you want to consider yourself a solo diver and carry a tiny Spare Air, that's up to you.

 

[Garth]

I agree with Ken. I won't be carrying a 13cuft in any situation... It may be useful to get you to the surface but I would like to avoid any chamber rides if possible.

The other issue I have with such "tiny" bailout is that... I like to stay in the water for a reasonable amount of time which means that I usually will have more than a few breaths of deco.... ;-)


Garth

---------- Post added March 14th, 2014 at 05:16 PM ----------

Holy crap, dude - a 19 foot pony. Don't you think that's a bit excessive.

Sorry. I really am sorry. I just couldn't resist.

So you regularly dive to 100-130ft over the past 6-7 years with 100-199 dives and where exactly does this occur while solo diving?


Garth

 

[rhwestfall]

Um.. Maybe Lake George????

 

[tursiops]

I could be wrong, but I think the minimum recommended size for solo certification from any agency I've heard about for dives over 60 feet would be 19 cf/3l. Of course if you want to consider yourself a solo diver and carry a tiny Spare Air, that's up to you.

SDI Solo standard is:
"One of the following must be used to provide an additional independent regulator attached to an air source:
pony cylinder, twin cylinders with isolation, H-valve, independent doubles, or SpareAir™" No statement on pony size.
There is no stated depth limit for the class, except that skills must be done above 100 ft.

PADI Self-Reliant Diver standard is:
"Redundant gas source – pony cylinder, twin cylinders with isolation valve or sidemount configuration. Redundant gas supply must be configured so that the diver can access it with one hand." Thank God Spare Air is not mentioned!
The standard for max depth during the class is 100 ft.

---------- Post added March 14th, 2014 at 06:45 PM ----------

Bushwah!!! I dive almost exclusively solo and regularly to 100-130'. I easily ascend to a safety stop of 5 minutes from those depths and then to the surface with gas left in the 13 cf pony. No calculations involved - practice runs and breathing heavy to simulate fear.

Hmmm. At 60 ft/min (too fast!) it is 2+ minutes to get to the surface from 130 ft, at an average depth of 65 ft (3 ATA), plus 5 mins of safety stop at 1.5 ATA, so even at 1 cu ft/min (which is modestly hard breathing) you'd need 13.5 cu ft. Are you ascending too fast? Are you not breathing hard? Are you BS'ing us?

 

[tomfcrist]

Not everyone hovers through gas. 13 can be sufficient, but a 19 or even a 30 would be better. As far as how to carry it, it's small enough to carry on the hip like a can light, but could be slung. I've never carried a bottle that small, so I cannot attest to how it would react to being slung like a deco bottle.

 

[Garth]

Not everyone hovers through gas. 13 can be sufficient, but a 19 or even a 30 would be better. As far as how to carry it, it's small enough to carry on the hip like a can light, but could be slung. I've never carried a bottle that small, so I cannot attest to how it would react to being slung like a deco bottle.

Sufficient for a direct accent, maybe.


Garth

 

[rhwestfall]

Safety stop is not mandatory..... Between bent or drowned I think I know my choice. Though a bigger bottle is something else I choose. YMMV.

 

[tomfcrist]

Not everyone hovers through gas. 13 can be sufficient, but a 19 or even a 30 would be better. As far as how to carry it, it's small enough to carry on the hip like a can light, but could be slung. I've never carried a bottle that small, so I cannot attest to how it would react to being slung like a deco bottle.

Sufficient for a direct accent, maybe.


Garth

Umm no Garth, I could do a 5 min stop and still have air to spare...and that's assuming a 30fpm ascent. For all that matters I could even start on the surface, bounce dive and do a stop for 5 minutes on a 13.

 

[Garth]

Ok. My mistake. I wouldn't consider a bounce... a dive.

I guess if the point of the dive is to get somewhere and get back it would serve its purpose. I like to get somewhere and stay for a while.


Garth