Placement of 30 cu ft 2nd pony for videographer

[Thalassamania]

He never asked for the best or safest way to configure his gear!

He asked a specific question about rigging pony bottle(s). Now the Dr. is a dumbass, redneck drunk, picking off deer on his way home from the bar. Oh yeah he also is a cheap bass-turd who clearly has insufficient skills because he has not taken enough tech dive courses. I'm amazed they even serve him at the bar (I mean fill his tanks)

Thanks for putting it back in perspective, my sense of humor gets lost in the strain sometimes.

 

[CompuDude]

Some people have no respect for the ability of an individual to make a personal decision about personal risk factors.

Doc Bill gots cred. He's not recommending anyone else take up his diving methodology, just looking for some tips on a particular method he has chosen, based on vast experience and well-informed decision, to improve his personal safety. There are plenty of clueless n00bs to pick on, and to scold because YOU don't like THEIR personal choice... I recommend moving on if you don't have anything constructive to offer the good doctor. Not that the doom-sayers are likely to listen to the likes of me, either, since I don't have a sliver of the experience Dr. Bill has...

 

[Mr.X]

And that is different from cave diving how?


Have fun. I really hope I don't see you in the Diving Accidents forum. What you are describing is unsafe, unsound, and frankly not very intelligent.

While I understand the point(s) some are trying to make... cynicism doesn't help anyone. Having been a Catalina diver for years I understand the particular culture of the island and its diving history. Deep air was the only thing you could do decades ago anyway. Farnsworth, Blue Caverns on deep air was the norm. Was I a little goosed - you bet. Did I like it - no. But, sometimes to make the dive you simply used what you have and blended gear the best you could. You often dove knewing that you had to be smart about what you were doing in addition to knowing your personal limits. There was no helium buffer.

Helium on Catalina, or mixed gas recreational diving were non-existent and a definite rarity in the late 80's and early 90's. In fact, it is still hard to find recreational mixed gas diving or instruction.

Some chronology for you youngsters. I showed up with a plate system in the late 80's and a Seatec wing. I was told I was nuts. This was Catalina diving - single tanking it. Low and behold young techies show up now in droves in their DIR regalia even at the Casino. The funny part is when I get **** from young-un's about how to do it right. I find it funny because if you have been doing the hard dives from decades ago newbies telling you what its like is humourous, tinged with some irony.

In the end, knowledge of your personal limits is far more important than helium.

X and out

 

[moneysavr]

Dr.Bill
First I love your news articles and photos,
I am sure you probably should get a min of 30cuft. pony and strap it to your tank,as some photo, Great Lake wreck, and East coast deep air divers do,
I dive mine pony tank up valve on,long hose on a necklace under my chin, with a 130 cuft steel, for the occasional deep air dives I do as I will this Sunday.
I function fine at 155FSW but do admit to narcosis but function and cary out the dive.some pals I dive with are squirrelly at 120FSW and realize there limitations so they need to dive mix. I look at the other health affects related to deep air diving as you well know vs the narcosis,cost of mix gases.
I don't do dive 21% deep all the time, I do use Nitrox 50% or more for deco and man I have a blast diving! meeting other divers,diving with divers of all ranges of rigs and reconfiguring my set ups over the years.
Also I have been doing some real armature videos (camera in a pvc case I made) on our local Great Lakes wrecks here in lake Michigan as this gets me out to other sites to do my videos. My stuff is in no way like yours but the kids and my dive pals get the ideas of the sites we dive!
Dive Safe,
Brad

 

[drbill]

I had a chat with my tech instructor on the dive boat today. I might add that I've been diving longer than he's been alive. He understands my diving, my physiological response and the reasons why I need to consider a different way to mount the 30 cu ft tank. He has no problem with my deep diving, and wants to explore deep with me as soon as we get a chance (he has dived ~250 ft but not to learn the biology).

Our solution? Butt mount the tank.

So, thanks to those who either tried to offer a viable solution, or were supportive of my position. To the rest, get a life.

And I will add for any new divers: DON'T TRY THESE DIVING PRACTICES YOURSELF. I NEVER advocate to any diver to go beyond recreational limits since I have no firsthand knowledge of their response to problems (mine has been calm and rational) or their tolerance to narcosis (mine is extremely high for some strange reason... and it has been suggested that frequent divers like myself can develop higher tolerance).

 

[TSandM]

Bill, without getting into the melee -- and you know where I'd stand in it -- I'm curious as to why doubles wouldn't give you the redundancy and extra gas you need. I'm just a complete newbie in double tanks, but already I've found they're not nearly as difficult to dive as I thought they would be. I can understand not wanting to bring two different setups on the boat, but why would you need to? Why not dive doubles for all the dives? Surely you're big enough and strong enough to climb the ladder with them. That would be MY only major concern. Anyway, that's an honest and non-judgmental question, if you will see it that way.

 

[Mr.X]

Bill, without getting into the melee -- and you know where I'd stand in it -- I'm curious as to why doubles wouldn't give you the redundancy and extra gas you need. I'm just a complete newbie in double tanks, but already I've found they're not nearly as difficult to dive as I thought they would be. I can understand not wanting to bring two different setups on the boat, but why would you need to? Why not dive doubles for all the dives? Surely you're big enough and strong enough to climb the ladder with them. That would be MY only major concern. Anyway, that's an honest and non-judgmental question, if you will see it that way.

If we're getting in the doubles conversation...yellow boxes and Prisms started showing up about 5 -6 years ago and they haven't stopped. I've had a terrific time getting close to some of the shyest animals in Catalina with a CCR. The difference was amazing...of course almost every critter at the Casino was used to hearing bubbles including the giant seabass.


In retrospect a twinned pair of 80's worked well for me in the early 90's.

 

[drbill]

TSandM... doubles are a future possibility. However their weight makes them a PITA. Here on Catalina I don't (and can't) own a regular car. I cart my dive gear on a hand cart up and down the hill I live on. Getting a "big rig" like that to and from the shop would be difficult. Few divers dive doubles on our boat (they'd hav e to bring them across the Channel... remember, I live on an island).

And as Mr. X. has suggested, CCR's are becoming more common here and will probably be another future possibility. After all, I'm never to old to learn!

 

[ianr33]

Bill,in your situation I would seriously look into independent doubles. (maybe even sidemount if you want to be pc !!) You only need to carry one tank around at a time and you have 100% redundancy.

 

[HowardE]

And as Mr. X. has suggested, CCR's are becoming more common here and will probably be another future possibility. After all, I'm never to old to learn!

Yeah... No bubbles. Really good for video and/or pictures