pony bottle mounting

[sdhalliwell]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

 

[wedivebc]

Why did you decide not to sling it? There are many good reasons for doing so.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

Welcome to the board. Please don't think you're being put off, but this topic has a rich and in-depth background on ScubaBoard. There are numerous posts that will be of interest to you, including sources for all the major mounting options, in the archives. Plus, you'll get a feel for pros and cons of different mounting options. To view these threads, go to the command bar below where it says "Welcome, sdhalliwell." at the top of this page, third button from the right is search, bottom of the box will be "advanced search". Click on that. Enter "pony bottle mounting" or, for more reading, just "pony bottle" (or some variant) and click 'enter'. You'll find pages of previous pony bottle threads to peruse.

Quick review of salient points:
- 30 cf isn't much gas, especially if your second stage free flows. You should be able to reach the valve and turn it on and off. (Ideally you carry a bottle of gas with the hoses charged and the valve turned off - you assume you might need the gas at some point and it would be nice to know its still there if you do.)
- you need another hose with an SPG on it clipped off to you like you need a third ear. (If you deploy a pony regulator, dives over, you're heading up. Hope you brought enough gas to go up slow and easy. If you didn't, thats called 'an adventure'.)
- try to reach back and touch the middle of your tank when you're wearing it. Now try to reach back and untangle some fishing line from your pony bottle attached to the middle of your tank when you're wearing it. They don't call such arrangements "line traps" for no reason.
- panicked divers can be scary. If you have a small tank slung in front of you you can take it off and hand it to someone else who needs it worse than you do. If its on your back, you can't. You could find yourself surfacing rather abruptly...
- if you're hung up inside a wreck, a fishnet, some kelp, or some other annoyance, being able to remove whatevers caught on your rig might entail being able to remove part of your rig. This isn't impossible if its on your back, especially if you're double-jointed, but it can definitely take something mildly aggravating and really make it ruin your entire day.

You seriously need to do a cost/benefit analysis for the kind of diving you do, where you live, and the level of diving you're currently performing. While many disagree, I think that pony's have their place depending on what you're doing. But they certainly increase the PITA factor. Which brings up another point. If you fill out your profile, guys will often check it out before answering to put their responses into context - make them more meaningful to you. You may want to fill it out at least a bit with the general locations you're diving in, your level of experience, etc. Or not...whatever.

I suggest you reconsider slinging your pony. And best of luck with your diving.

Doc

 

[WellBelowH2O]

Do you own your main tank? These work well if you do:

Pony Tamer

Most would mount on the right as your secondary regulator would come from the right like your primary. Some use gauges, some don't. You have to at least test the pressure with your primary setup if you don't have any other gauges on the tank. I'd prefer to have an SPG on it so that I know where I'm at if I have to start breathing off of it.

 

[greg1]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

Welcome aboard!

Whether you sling or hard mount, I recomend, if you are in the tru-state area, and can get to Dutch Springs, to get in the water to get used to it. A pony is nothing major to get used to, but I make it a habit when I try something new, like gear configuration, I try it in a "controled" environment like the quary.

Good luck

 

[Tanked]

The super pony tamer has worked well for me. As others have mentioned, make sure you can reach the valve on the pony, as well as your main tank. An SPG is also a good thing to have too.

http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/RSASPT.html

 

[yakivet]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

Check out Zeagle's mounting system:

http://www.zeagle.com/index.php?src=news&prid=14&category=Product News

Ken :42:

 

[matt_unique]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

A 30CF pony is an excellent tank size compromise. If you are diving <120 depths this is more than enough air for it's intended purpose - to get you safely to the surface (including safety stop) if your primary breathing system fails. It is not a means to extend bottom time.

I prefer Highland Mills bands to hard mount a 30CF pony to a single alum 80. It's one bolt to fasten or remove the band/pony so it's very easy to swap tanks. I take it with me when I vacation.

Another method as pointed out is a sling. If you do this I suggest you use bungy to wrap your reg and spg hoses against the tank clean. Then you just pull on the reg if you need to use it. If you carefully check your pressure before each dive - as in - just before you are about to splash - you can get away with not having an spg. I prefer to always know how much gas is in any tank I plan to use so I have a small spg mounted always.

More gear always presents more entanglement hazzards but everything is a balance. Be proactive in scanning above your line of travel to help avoid entanglement for example.

A pony is a good safety choice.

--Matt

 

[Narcd_dvr]

I recently bought a 30 cf pony bottle and am now trying to decide how best to wear it. I have decided to mount it to my main tank instead of slinging it under an arm. Having never worn one before and not paid attention when others were wearing them, I could use some ideas on how to mount it and what side to put it on, gauges, etc. Thanks!

I have a 19cf pony bottle and I mount it inverted on my main tank. Its inverted because, its always off and when the situation calls for me to use it, I can always reach for the nob and turn the pony on.
If your BC has weight pocket next to the main tank, you will need to add some weight in there. This is something you would have to play around with. If the weights are not properly distributed, you'll be listing on either side and will take some energy to compensate for.
Do you have a small guage connected to your pony reg? If not, might wanna get one.
Hope this helps..

 

[scubatoys]

We've found these to be the most popular for mounting to the tank: HD Quick Draw Bracket