Out of Air at 84 ft

[wreckferret146]

Are you talking about Spare Air? Just how good are those things? Will that get you to the surface from 84 ft with a safety stop?

hmmmmm..... when you ask me am i talking abut spare air..
i start to wonder just how long youve been diving,and who trained you......

 

[Christi]

hmmmmm..... when you ask me am i talking abut spare air..
i start to wonder just how long youve been diving,and who trained you......

Were you ever a new diver? Slinging pony's is not exactly part of the OW curriculum. There are many divers out there who are not familiar with the concept. No need to question their credentials because they are asking questions and trying to learn.

Nothing irritates me more on these forums than when "experienced" divers berate and talk down to those who are new divers. What a way to welcome them to the sport. There is a big difference in disagreeing, educating and talking down to them and treatng them as inferior human beings because they haven't been diving as long as you have. As much as I disagree with PF on many points, I commend him for trying to learn as much as he can and taking a proactive approach to his diving career.

I believe he was clarifying whether the poster was asking about a "Spare Air" or a true pony bottle I believe. The "Spare Air" canisters are a joke. If you are going to carry a spare cylinder, it should at least be a 13cf pony bottle. Don't waster your money on a "Can" of spare air.

 

[Quarrior]

Nothing irritates me more on these forums than when "experienced" divers berate and talk down to those who are new divers. What a way to welcome them to the sport. There is a big difference in disagreeing, educating and talking down to them and treatng them as inferior human beings because they haven't been diving as long as you have. As much as I disagree with PF on many points, I commend him for trying to learn as much as he can and taking a proactive approach to his diving career.

Thank you Christi, I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[pilot fish]

hmmmmm..... when you ask me am i talking abut spare air..
i start to wonder just how long youve been diving,and who trained you......

PADI and long enough to know that it was not TOTALLY clear what you meant. I just wanted to make sure I understood you. The reason I wanted to make sure it was Spare Air was that most divers think it gives you a false sense of safety and there is SOME question of how useful it is. I personally do not know. Does that help?

 

[pilot fish]

Were you ever a new diver? Slinging pony's is not exactly part of the OW curriculum. There are many divers out there who are not familiar with the concept. No need to question their credentials because they are asking questions and trying to learn.

Nothing irritates me more on these forums than when "experienced" divers berate and talk down to those who are new divers. What a way to welcome them to the sport. There is a big difference in disagreeing, educating and talking down to them and treatng them as inferior human beings because they haven't been diving as long as you have. As much as I disagree with PF on many points, I commend him for trying to learn as much as he can and taking a proactive approach to his diving career.

I believe he was clarifying whether the poster was asking about a "Spare Air" or a true pony bottle I believe. The "Spare Air" canisters are a joke. If you are going to carry a spare cylinder, it should at least be a 13cf pony bottle. Don't waster your money on a "Can" of spare air.

Thank you Christi. I just wanted to make sure I knew what it was he was talking about.

Do you need special cert to use a slung pony bottle? Can an AOW diver use it without tech training? I thought that pony was enriched air? BTW, I'm really not THAT new to diving. Been diving 2 1/2 years and have 95 dives. Relitively new, but not totally

 

[jonnythan]

A pony is just any relatively small tank you carry to have a redundant air source. The most common setup I've seen is to use a bracket to attach a 13 or 19cf tank to your main tank, and run a single second stage off of it. Some people carry the Spare Air, which is a 3cf can. Some people hang a tank (anything from a 19cf to an 80cf) off their left side the way tech divers carry deco bottles. Some divers don't like the idea of pony bottles to begin with.

You don't specifically need any instruction to do it, but you should really think through the process, decide how it's going to be used, and do your research on the pros and cons. There is a wealth of information on the board.. just do a search on "pony bottle"

 

[simbrooks]

Do you need special cert to use a slung pony bottle? Can an AOW diver use it without tech training? I thought that pony was enriched air? BTW, I'm really not THAT new to diving. Been diving 2 1/2 years and have 95 dives. Relitively new, but not totally

Most people doing recreational diving would mount a pony to their tank and run the reg off that to a clip on their BC. Slinging is a little more involved, but with practice is workable. Its not tech diving. When you think about a pony, its only going to be used to get you off the bottom and up to the surface via a safety stop as well. The limited time you might need to use it is not going to be much of your bottom time and most of it should be ascent or stop time anyway, so nitrox is not required in it. What you might be confusing this with is a deco bottle, which is a higher nitrox blend and used to help encourage N2 out of your system - these are also slung. One thing you should do though is get some practice in with these new items in a confined/safe environment before taking them out into the ocean with you A few people have died from the false security they felt of having the pony, but when they needed it they didnt turn it on or couldnt find it as they hadnt practiced with it. Of course if you are a traveller you'll have to either leave it behind when you go on vacation or empty the tank, open it up for inspection, then refill it when you get to your destination which might be a PITA (someone who has done this a bit in the past, dont know about now is DandyDon so i hear). Just some thoughts, of course being a better buddy is the best skill and equipment you can have - work on that and you wont need a pony

 

[simbrooks]

There is a wealth of information on the board.. just do a search on "pony bottle"

Probably too much info on that particular hot bed subject Be prepared for well over 500 threads on the subject!

 

[jonnythan]

Probably too much info on that particular hot bed subject Be prepared for well over 500 threads on the subject!

If you're a masochist like me, you will have read every one of the posts in every one of the threads.

You wade through the trash long enough, you learn to recognize the actual gems of information

 

[pilot fish]

A pony is just any relatively small tank you carry to have a redundant air source. The most common setup I've seen is to use a bracket to attach a 13 or 19cf tank to your main tank, and run a single second stage off of it. Some people carry the Spare Air, which is a 3cf can. Some people hang a tank (anything from a 19cf to an 80cf) off their left side the way tech divers carry deco bottles. Some divers don't like the idea of pony bottles to begin with.

You don't specifically need any instruction to do it, but you should really think through the process, decide how it's going to be used, and do your research on the pros and cons. There is a wealth of information on the board.. just do a search on "pony bottle"

Thanks. At the moment I don't see a need to know it but I will ask around to learn a bit more.