carrying pony bottle and oct reg as spare air...

[dumpsterDiver]

Frankly, I find removing your alternate 2nd stage from your regulator is lunacy. An ordinary air share should be done on your back gas, not your pony bottle.

I don't want to juggle 3 second stages on a normal recreational dive. I remove the octopus from my primary regulator. Am I a lunatic?

Actually, I choose to use the dreaded AIR II, as recommended by others above which allows me to have only 2 second stages and gives me the ability to have both divers breathing from my primary tank. It also allows me to have a safe second on the rare occasions when I don't use a pony bottle.

Also, I don't really see the huge problem of allowing a diver to air shair off my pony in an emergency. It should have enough capacity to get a diver to the surface anyway right?

 

[TheRedHead]

I don't want to juggle 3 second stages on a normal recreational dive. I remove the octopus from my primary regulator. Am I a lunatic?

If you sling your pony and have everything bungeed neatly, it should never be a problem, particularly if you have a long hose and your alternate bungeed around your neck.

 

[mattroz]

Also, I don't really see the huge problem of allowing a diver to air shair off my pony in an emergency. It should have enough capacity to get a diver to the surface anyway right?

What happens when your buddy is out of air and using your pony and your 2nd stage freeflows?


edit: oops didn`t see that you also had an airII my bad...

 

[birdwrasse]

i bought a 13 cu. ft. tank and have the aqua lung legend lx octo for it... i am waiting on an aqua lung titan 1st stage, and i'll be set... it can attach to the primary tank via a pony bottle fitted bag... it will be a nice emergency set up... i will practice with it so i can get an idea of how many breaths at different depths!

cheers...



--carlos

 

[Web Monkey]

I'm going to keep my pony until someone comes up with a valid reason why it's bad to have an extra 30 Cu Ft of air.

Buddies are great, but even if my buddy is 2 feet away, it's still more of a risk to try to get his air than it is to use what I brought with me.

On dives with new divers, I'd consider trying a real air-share in an OOA situation during a dive to be a real toss of the dice, from both of our persepectives. They're probably hoovering like crazy, and most certainly haven't done the gas planning required to help an OOA diver.

In this case sharing air would most likely result in both divers running out of air. (twice for the OOA diver, once for the donor).

Terry

I firmly believe in divers equipping themselves to be as self reliant as possible so that the inevitable unintentional buddy separation does not pose a significant risk. The buddy system was adapted from surface swimming and, despite it's long history in the diving community and near universal acceptance, it is still far less than perfect. Personally, I think it's ironic that someone would suggest a pony bottle would be a potential risk as it could present a false sense of security when that is exactly what a belief in the buddy system does much of the time.

 

[Web Monkey]

Actually, I choose to use the dreaded AIR II, as recommended by others above which allows me to have only 2 second stages and gives me the ability to have both divers breathing from my primary tank.

The Air-2 works fine. It doesn't breathe great, but it also doesn't freeflow or get dragged through the dirt.

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

What happens when your buddy is out of air and using your pony and your 2nd stage freeflows?


edit: oops didn`t see that you also had an airII my bad...

First, freeflows are completely preventable. Just buy a regulator that doesn't freeflow, take care of it and keep it serviced.

If you're diving in cold water, you need a cold water reg. This really includes areas people don't normally think of, like any of the northern states and Canada in the summer, where the water is almost 80 degrees at the surface, but can be around 40 below the thermocline.

However back to your question: Breathe the free-flow and end the dive.

Terry

 

[cardinal]

Back mounting does not allow you to turn the valve on and off at will, so you need to 1) ensure it is on at the start of the dive and 2) you need to ensure your pony reg does not freeflow. However, a back mounted pony is also essentially invisible during the dive and does not have to be managed during the dive as a slung pony needs to be given it's location in front of you. Back mounting also allows the second stage to be routed in a "normal" manner much like an octo.

If you back mount a pony, I would suggest carrying it's second stage in place of your regular octo and also use it in conjunction with an integrated inflator/octo like the Air 2. This lets you or your buddy use your pony like a regular octo (ie: no additional training issues) and still provides you with an extra means to access your primary tank without a 3rd conventional second stage and it's associated hose. It reduces both clutter and confusion.

I agree and indeed like this response - informative and impartial. Thanks. I do have a question for you though.....I dive with the AL legend LX and the legend octo, and do not have an integrated inflator / octo.

As someone who has clearly thought about the subject, would you prefer to see a third second stage and if so - where should it secured? or would you prefer to see the legend octo coupled to the pony directly?

If the answer is "stick with the 2", I understand that my octo can freeflow (?... correct me if I am wrong by all means) so should I get another one in addition?

I ask as I am sincerely interested in this subject.

I like the idea of securing the pony directly on the back, I will need to investigate if I can get 2 tanks on my BCD.

Another question which is for anyone actually - your thoughts on the 3cu.ft "Spare Air"?

Sorry if these are daft questions - hope it makes sense

 

[cardinal]

Another question which is for anyone actually - your thoughts on the 3cu.ft "Spare Air"?

Which upon reflection - seems like a waste of time, unless all I want to do is to be able to get out of the bath with it....

 

[TheRedHead]

As someone who has clearly thought about the subject, would you prefer to see a third second stage and if so - where should it secured? or would you prefer to see the legend octo coupled to the pony directly?

I personally don't like a pony tank on the back. If you want to know why, read this thread:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=74063&highlight=Dandy+Don+Pony+OOA

This is a scuababoard classic and my apologies to Dandy Don.