Question Need advice on attaching pony bottle

[swimmingpooldivein]

Hello!

I just completed the SDI Solo Diver certification, and I'm having trouble deciding how to attach a pony bottle. I dive with a drysuit and Tusa X-Wing BCD. I'm thinking about buying a 3L steel pony bottle. My thinking on options:

1. Mount pony bottle onto primary tank: my setup is already very heavy, so keeping the pony bottle separate is very appealing.
2. Mount pony bottle in front: I do lots of muck diving (getting up close to the silty bottom), so I think this will get in the way.
3. Sidemount pony bottle from shoulder D-ring to D-ring that's under the weight pocket: the D-ring that's under the weight pocket (see picture below) may not work because it's obstructed by the buldging integrated weight pocket. Also, I'm concerned that the pony bottle may accidentally unhook the weight pocket mid-dive and my weight pocket falls out.
4. Sidemount pony bottle from shoulder D-ring to plastic ring that's at the bottom-back of the BCD: this may keep the pony bottle from accidentally unhooking the weight pocket, but I have no idea what the plastic ring at the bottom-back of the BCD (see picture below) can be used for, and how much load it can bear. There's no mention of this plastic ring in the owner's manual.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!

 

[Dapper Dan]

it is if that is your standard dive setup. Those bad gas switches were done without team verification or poorly labeled bottles. The deco, travel, and bottom gas were labeled on the tank and not necessarily a different reg. AND since we're talking breathing down your pony vs your back gas you still are not OOA, you have a 100+ on your back with the reg where you put it.

Yeah that makes sense. All that changes is you have to switch sooner. Same amount of gas.
My mouthpieces are different enough I'd feel the difference. My pony has that annoying "comfort bite" mouthpiece with the "hump" that sits up against the roof of your mouth and my main doesn't; it's the standard "u" shaped mouthpiece. I hate that one that sits against the roof of your mouth. As soon as I put it in my mouth it would annoy me, so I'd know I had the wrong reg becuase I despise the thing.
To me the "comfort bite" mouthpiece feels like diving with a baseball in your mouth. LOL

Plus my pony is a yellow reg with green hose and my main is a black reg with black hose.

 

[Boarderguy]

that is the issue, using different seconds, colored mouthpieces, etc in place of team verification and proper labelling. if you are running a backmounted pony while solo, you are doing the same thing by relying on having a different 2nd, mouthpiece color, etc.

sure, you technically could figure out you were on the pony and switch to your main reg. but previous incidents have occurred where the diver runs OOG but their gauge is full, think they need to switch to their pony, find their unique pony 2nd only to get nothing out of it since the pony is empty, and things just go worse from there

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Yeah, all skills problems.

 

[Dapper Dan]

double post somehow.

 

[Boarderguy]

Yeah that makes sense. All that changes is you have to switch sooner. Same amount of gas.
My mouthpieces are different enough I'd feel the difference. My pony has that annoying "comfort bite" mouthpiece with the "hump" that sits up against the roof of your mouth and my main doesn't; it's the standard "u" shaped mouthpiece. I hate that one that sits against the roof of your mouth. As soon as I put it in my mouth it would annoy me, so I'd know I had the wrong reg becuase I despise the thing. LOL

Plus my pony is a yellow reg with green hose and my main is a black reg with black hose.

I clip my pony reg to my shoulder before donning gear so I would notice. My pony is on a 36" yellow rubber hose routed from near my kidney, I would notice. My primary is a different brand and breathes way better. It's on a 40" red braided hose and hangs until I don.

Yeah, any switch would be a skills problem.

 

[MyBuddy]

I clip my pony reg to my shoulder before donning gear so I would notice. My pony is on a 36" yellow rubber hose routed from near my kidney, I would notice. My primary is a different brand and breathes way better. It's on a 40" red braided hose and hangs until I don.

Yeah, any switch would be a skills problem.

You may notice, but you didn’t mention any of the potential pitfalls and your personal solutions in your original post suggesting the OP backmount the pony. For that matter, neither did @NW Dive Dawg who was humble enough to start a thread on how his almost killed him. I think we owe it to the OP to mention the good and the bad of our preferred configuration.

But back OT,

Sidemount pony bottle from shoulder D-ring to plastic ring that's at the bottom-back of the BCD: this may keep the pony bottle from accidentally unhooking the weight pocket, but I have no idea what the plastic ring at the bottom-back of the BCD (see picture below) can be used for, and how much load it can bear. There's no mention of this plastic ring in the owner's manual.

That plastic piece (I wouldn’t really call it a D ring.) is to add a crotch strap to your BC. Guessing it’s 1” or 1 3/8”. Which I’d highly recommend as it will keep even jacket style BCs from shifting around. I added a crotch strap to my Mares jacket BC and loved it before heading further down the rabbit hole and going to BPW/Sidemount/CCR. So be warned it’s a slippery slope. If you add the crotch strap, it would be a simple matter of getting the appropriate size triglide and D ring and adding a butt D ring to which you could clip the pony. Shouldn’t be too hard to reach.

If you’re really wanting to side mount the pony that usually involves a piece of bungee that pulls the valve in to the armpit and out of the way. Which makes even a 40 as a pony barely noticeable on a dive. Is there something behind the padding at or above armpit height to which a loop of bungee could be attached? How sturdy are those loops at the back of the shoulder straps? If bungee was attached there would it somehow impact the function of the bladder?

I’d also advise against the 3L steel as because they are quite negative in the water and would try to pull you to one side. Look for an appropriate sized AL with as close to neutral when full as you can get. A 19 is as close as you’ll get to the volume of the 3L steel but I prefer a little more gas and not sure how the 19 would ride rigged up like that.