doubles worth it???

[inmate]

I’m brand new to scuba I haven’t even had a dive other than in a pool yet but I had a q more out of curiosity than actual practice first q are double tanks worth it for recreational diving second is there a way to feed a pony bottle your main air supply or not

 

[Arduous]

You need far more experience before you can consider if doubles are for you. With time you’ll know if and or when you will need doubles.

A pony bottle is generally used as a redundant air supply. There is no reason you would want to hook it up to your back gas. This would defeat the redundancy.

 

[SDAnderson]

I’m brand new to scuba I haven’t even had a dive other than in a pool yet but I had a q more out of curiosity than actual practice first q are double tanks worth it for recreational diving second is there a way to feed a pony bottle your main air supply or not

Doubles probably aren't worth it for recreational divers - that much gas means you're going to stay down longer or go deeper than recreational allows. They're expensive, harder to manage and of limited value.

I'm not certain that I understand your second question: the purpose of a bailout bottle is to have an air supply that is wholly separate from your back gas. It generally isn't connected in any way to your main tank and has it's own first and second stage regulator. If you have a transfill whip you can refill a pony from your main gas, but this isn't something that you do underwater and it's usually easier to get it filled by your local dive shop.

Hope this helps.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

You need far more experience before you can consider if doubles are for you. With time you’ll know if and or when you will need doubles.

A pony bottle is generally used as a redundant air supply. There is no reason you would want to hook it up to your back gas. This would defeat the redundancy.

Doubles generally don't make sense for recreational diving. They provide enough gas that you would exceed your no-decompression limits. They are heavy, bulky, and harder to deal with. (There are extremely small sets of doubles, such as double 45s or 50s, but these are the exceptions to the rule.)

Focus first on learning all the many things that are involved with becoming a skilled diver. Then, increasing the amount of gas you bring with you will naturally evolve after you reach a point where you begin planning more complex dives that require more gas.

 

[Hyper-limits]

Stick with single tank right now. Like all the mention above you need more experience to dive doubles. You need to get comfortable in the water first, work on buoyancy and in all other skills that will make you a better diver. I own double myself but don't use them if I don't have to. If I dive in a 60-100 ft range I use single tank it is a lot easier to log around.
For anything deeper than I move to the doubles.

 

[inmate]

thanks for the help that’s what I thought from reading other posts i think someone said something like doubles make you feel like a drunken turtle and by the way one of you worded it sounds like you need another citification for deeper dives is this true or not???

 

[SeanQ]

I would hold off old getting double tanks for awhile. Unless you're short and large tanks don't fit or trim out well a single tank is preferable for rec diving. You'll get tired of hauling around 80lbs of tanks when a 40lb large single tank does the job.

You only need extra training for deep diving if you intend on returning to the surface alive. Diving beyond the NDL is considered technical diving. You need to have a lot of experience in the water before you start technical diving because it is much less forgiving of mistakes.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The limit for newly certified Open Water divers is generally regarded as being 60 ft. Beyond that, experience, an Advanced Open Water course and/or a Deep Diving course is recommended. With that certification the practical limit for recreational diving is 100 to 130 ft. Beyond that nitrogen narcosis becomes a significant factor, gas consumption requires very careful planning and the NDL's are very short making decompression more likely with additional training equipment requirements.

So if you are planning to dive below 100-130 ft, doubles and technical training in deco procedues and advanced nitrox/accellerated decompression suddenly becomes very relavent. Below about 150 ft trimix is very attractive.

Normally a pony is entirely independent. I have heard of one system though that uses a connection to a high pressure port and a check valve to keep the pony topped off from the primary first stage regulator. In my opinion, though it adds an unnecessary level of complexity to the pony system. When it comes to redundancy you want reliability and simplicity, not high tech for the sake of having high tech.

 

[Curt Bowen]

I’m brand new to scuba I haven’t even had a dive other than in a pool yet but I had a q more out of curiosity than actual practice first q are double tanks worth it for recreational diving second is there a way to feed a pony bottle your main air supply or not

Might want to learn how to swim, breath, and keep from destroying the bottom with your fins first.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Might want to learn how to swim, breath, and keep from destroying the bottom with your fins first.

Lighten up a little on the sarcasm Curt. He has acknowledged he has not made it out of the pool yet and is just asking a couple of general questions. Nothing wrong with having goals.