Is there a valid reason for a pony bottle

[tursiops]

even PADI states the Self Reliant certification is NOT solo....

The PADI Instructor Manual for Self-Reliant says:
There are two reasons for an experienced diver to take the Self-Reliant Diver Specialty course:

• To develop the skills of planning and carrying out dives without a partner when preferred or necessary.
• To sharpen skills of diving self-reliance, making the diver a stronger partner in a dive pair or team. ​

This course covers when diving alone may be applicable, and the need to compensate for those situations, including dive planning, life support system readiness, adaptive training, equipment and responsibility.

 

[tarponchik]

Auto tires are pressurized 24x7x365=61320 hours each year. Scuba hoses are pressurized maybe 100 hours a year. Do you think that might be relevant?

True, but at the same time O2 partial pressure is also much higher than in tires.

 

[JohnnyC]

I am starting to believe that your mother must have been frightened by a pony during her third trimester.

As funny as the response is, they are actually important and viable considerations. Whether he was being snarky or not by asking them, they are important questions to consider when choosing a pony size.

 

[tarponchik]

So what's the pony bottle for, exactly? So you can get away with not sticking with your buddy? So you can neglect your equipment? So you can bump up against the "limits"?

This reminds me of the argument used by religious right, that condoms encourage promiscuity. For me, ponies are just not worth the money and efforts spent; I do not care if other divers use them. In fact, I would encourage air hogs to use ponies on mandatory group dives cause maybe they won't cut my dives short

 

[Diving Dubai]

I’m not getting why some here equate using a pony to becoming a complacent diver? Why would it? It actually takes extra effort and planning to transport, fill and gear up with one - so these guys are thinking about a little more than most divers. Does diving with a buddy who has an octo make you complacent? Just not getting the connection at all.

In my, admittedly limited experience, the folks I’ve seen diving with pony’s have been experienced divers with good technique and were helpful mentors to others. On a recent LDS trip to Bonaire, several of the experienced guys were diving with pony bottles and were great buddies and had lots of helpful technique suggestions for us newer divers.

These are guys who dive doubles and rebreathers in the cold murky NJ ocean dives and have many hundreds to thousands of dives - not complacent at all.

You misunderstand my post. Bear in mind that this is the basic forum and long after this thread has died down other newer divers will still read it.

The point of that post was to be a salient reminder.

I'm glad you've got a group of experienced mentors, I was lucky enough to have the same when I started out - and I still do constantly learn from my peers. But just remember that the experience passed on to you is gained generally by that person having made mistakes in their early dive career. They've learnt the lessons and they want to pass those lessons on to others

So while I see the majority of people that have ponies being experienced and havign good technique - there are some, often newer divers, who've adopted a practice because they've read about it online and because they're wearing a pony have a false sense of security. I'm just trying to remind people not to let their basics slip. If when you're reading this you think that it doesn't' apply to you, then fine. But if it helps one person to avoid an incident then I'm happy

 

[tarponchik]

I can't say say for sure this is incorrect, as a combination of both Oxygen and heat can cause hardening of rubber compounds.

However atmospheric pollutants such as NOx SOx and O3 all degrade rubbers. When smog was an issue in California silicone was added to car tyres to offset this degradation.

Maybe this is where the "data" came from

Most of us here in the Middle East find it prudent to change hoses after 3 - 4 years because of the likely damage from heat and UV.

Indeed by law no car tyres are allowed to be used once they're 4 years old because of the degradation of UV and especially road heat in the summer

I've seen recommendations to dispose tires after 6 years, no matter how deep tread is; though I don't know about Dubai. Off topic, but I doubt that heat works differently in Dubai because the heat damage to the tires also comes from the inside, not from the outside. Most of the heat comes from flexing the rubber when the wheels rotate, not from the ambient temperature. The outside air actually cools down the tire at car's speed, even when it is 110F. The heat inside the tire, however, has nowhere to escape except through the rubber itself, but rubber is a poor heat transmitter.

 

[grf88]

Maybe the detractors would have a different perspective if they dived in cold water and by cold I mean cold not the cool 50 degrees that some call cold. I have a difficult time counting the freeflows I have witnessed and have seen several double free flows where someone sharing air also had a freeflow from two people, both understandably stressed, breathing off the same regulator. I have shared air on multiple occasions but only one time was that because somebody ran out of air and he was not my buddy but someone who had no business diving.

 

[AdivingBel]

IMHO, the only decent argument against a pony is: ‘I don’t believe that the risk of me needing the pony outweigh the cost/hassle because I do only recreational and dive in buddy pairs with serious buddies and decent equipment in conditions where failure is rare and are unlikely to cause death and/or injury’ or any statistical variant of this.

And a damn fine argument it is, IMHO. But hey, I'm just a traveling, tidy bowl diver. If you want to dive a pony, more power to you. It's a big ocean out there. I know a couple of divers that drag them around and I have the utmost respect for them (and they look really ninja).

To the earlier posters concerning big tanks in the tropics: My experience has been they are readily available (not that I would want to lug/dive one of those either). You may have to do a bit of pre-trip planning and reserve them in advance due to a limited supply. I've had to scrape at tropical locations for a pony rig for solo. Fortunately I've been to the locations I most often solo often enough I've been able to make arrangements (Bonaire DF & Curacao a local guy). If you don't have a solo card, be prepared to endure the stink eye. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[Diving Dubai]

My lovely wife is not the best of dive buddies.

Does your wife carry a pony?

 

[Joneill]

I do not care if other divers use them. In fact, I would encourage air hogs to use ponies on mandatory group dives cause maybe they won't cut my dives short

Which, of course, is EXACTLY what a pony is NOT intended to be used for...