For those who use a pony bottle to fill your drysuit during a dive?

[sheck33]

Jackknife once bubbled...

What exactly is this "SeaQuest Pro QD with integrated airsource to cut down on one reg"? Where can I find out more information on this?

Do yourself, and your buddy, a favor and dont use those powerinflator-integrated regulators. Those are not a good solution just to eliminate a regulator hose.
These are not high quality regulators that make venting the BC very awkward. And what length hose for your primary would you choose

i have done air-share with these things...they suck, period.

 

[Uncle Pug]

This makes no sense. Why would you use a separate tank for drysuit inflation? What problem are you attempting to solve by adding an extra piece to the puzzle?

BTW: *pony bottle* is not another name for *small tank*.

 

[Braunbehrens]

Jackknife once bubbled...
I feel for the type of diving I will be doing should not require me to go to such extremes, expecially for this gas that is inconvenient to get.

The ONLY reason to use a separate bottle for suit inflation is if you have a different gas in it than what is in your back tanks. If you are not using helium in your breathing gas, and you are not planning on putting argon in the suit, why would you want a separate bottle?

If I misunderstood you and you do want to use a different gas, then I would recommend going with either a 6 cuft bottle mounted on the waist as described above, or a 14 cuft bottle attached to your tanks. If your dives are not super long or super deep, go with the 6, and if you need more gas just buy a second bottle and throw it in your gear box. No sense having a big bottle attached to your tanks if the dive doesn't require it.

Good luck with it.

 

[Jackknife]

sheck33 once bubbled...


Do yourself, and your buddy, a favor and dont use those powerinflator-integrated regulators. Those are not a good solution just to eliminate a regulator hose.
These are not high quality regulators that make venting the BC very awkward. And what length hose for your primary would you choose

i have done air-share with these things...they suck, period.

I've seen those, too risky for scuba if you ask me. If I recall they even have an octopuse setup for it, and it has to be pulled out of a pocket where it is suppose to be kept. No thanks if there's an emergency.

 

[Jackknife]

Braunbehrens once bubbled...


The ONLY reason to use a separate bottle for suit inflation is if you have a different gas in it than what is in your back tanks. If you are not using helium in your breathing gas, and you are not planning on putting argon in the suit, why would you want a separate bottle?

If I misunderstood you and you do want to use a different gas, then I would recommend going with either a 6 cuft bottle mounted on the waist as described above, or a 14 cuft bottle attached to your tanks. If your dives are not super long or super deep, go with the 6, and if you need more gas just buy a second bottle and throw it in your gear box. No sense having a big bottle attached to your tanks if the dive doesn't require it.

Good luck with it.

Save my air in my main tank for breathing. My logic was that since I will be using my dry suit more often, and that it also requires air for it to work, that I would obviously use more air out of my main tank. So to help that issue along, I was going to add another small bottle with just air for the drysuit, instead of my main tank.

So is this pony bottle even necessary? According to your reply, I'm looking into some serious overkill that doesn't require it? I don't plan on going deeper than recreational depths. Rarely past 130 fsw. I just want to make sure that it doesn't disrupt my current air useage as that took a whole year to tweak. That means a lot of cardio work!!!

I guess depending on your replies to this one, I would probably just do without the pony bottle then?

I guess most of you understand what I'm trying to get at?

 

[Braunbehrens]

forget it, you don't need it. On a typical dive like you are describing you'll use about 2cuft of gas. That's 1/40th of your gas. Don't worry about it. Just don't inflate the suit more than necessary. All you need is enough gas in the suit to relieve the squeeze, and use your bc for buoyancy like you have been.

However, if you have too much money and really want to waste it on something, I can give you my mailing address ;-)

 

[Scubaroo]

The "wanting to save breathing gas" is an argument I looked into for getting a seperate drysuit inflation tank - but I had a look at my SACs before and after getting my drysuit (I only have 22 drysuit dives), and my average cold water SAC in a wetsuit was around 0.55, and when I started the drysuit, it rocketed to 0.80. Now it's back down to 0.60 and lower, approaching my wetsuit rate! Adding the weight and complexity of an extra tank and regulator just doesn't add up when conserving gas is the goal.

 

[Bob3]

I agree with several of the above, As long as you're not using helium, using a small bottle to save back gas isn't an effective tradeoff when you add in the extra clutter. If you're using that much suit gas, try keeping your hands off the drysuit valves a lot more. Just a spritz is all you need.

The ONLY reason to use a separate bottle for suit inflation is if you have a different gas in it

I use a small bottle for drysuit inflation when using a double hose regulator (no LP ports).
My first drysuit bottle had no regulator on it, it was an old O2 bottle from a rebreather that had a needle valve. It fed directly into the suit (no inlet valve on suit).
Just a twist of the handle was all you needed.

 

[Jackknife]

I'm pretty good on my air consumption rate, so since the suit won't be using so much air, I got nothing to sweat then.


Thanks!!

 

[trymixdiver]

your not going to use that much gas to inflate your suit, i dont think your situation requires you to get a separate bottle for the suit inflation.

If you are worried about using your gas to inflate your suit and shortening your dive, then upgrade your main tank to a larger one. That way your not adding the complexity of having to carry an extra tank for suit inflation and your increasing your potential dive time along with covering any gas needed for suit inflation.

I would not use a pony, i would perfer to use a larger main tank.

Andy