Pony bottle & recreational diving...Need input...

[redacted]

Define "time to time" as in once per dive, once per year, once per lifetime? If you are having frequent LP hoses failures then you are having a problem that you need to get to the bottom of before somebody gets hurt.

No LP hoses here, only one stage, no internal parts exposed to seawater, only one O ring and it is not needed, utterly reliable, an extreme example and not the solution you seek but elimination of failure prone equipment is a valid means of improving overall function and safety, at least as much as is adding multiple layers of equipment to compensate for the added faults that added equipment presents.

N

I don't know of any scuba regulators (modern, vintage, or tween) that could really be called failure prone. Although I'm sure there are a number of associated gadgets that many divers have rejected due to reliability problems. But whatever the failure rate is (1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100,000) adding a completely redundant gas supply essentially doubles the zeros in the denominator.

I don't carry my pony often. Shallow and/or with my wife/buddy, I just don't need it. But deeper and solo it is with me. It is extremely unlikely that I will need it. But the very slight burden of carrying it is worth the risk reduction to me.

 

[The Great Kazoo]

deleted

 

[captain]

Its called manufactures defects... happens all the time

Which bring up a good point. Most of those type defect failures happen soon after the item is put into use. I would trust a 5 year old hose that has made many dives more than a brand new one.

 

[Nemrod]

If you have an instructor (not necessarily even scuba) and you don't like what you are being told, suggested or how you are critiqued and you are paying for it then go get an instructor that will tell you only what you want to hear and in that way you will always be guaranteed to never have you self esteem questioned, your opinion or logic dissected and of course you will never be exposed to any new ways of thinking, any new approaches to a problem, no novel solutions or ever learn anything new or different from what you already know. Never do anything different or consider other possibilities--in this thread -- the only solution to the equipment problem(s) both real and imagined is just to get and carry more equipment. Seems like a plan. Why would I ever question such dogma?

N

 

[Nemrod]

Deleted by me. Thank you.

 

[Rhone Man]

If you think your anxiety level will rise if you dive without a pony, then you should carry one. They can be a hassle, but it doesn't follow that because your (current) instructor has a minimalist philosophy you should too. You have to find your own path.

 

[The Great Kazoo]

deleted

 

[Cave Bum]

It seems to me the essence of this discussion has gotten down to:

“Do we want to train thinking, situationally aware divers that can solve their own problems underwater (or more importantly can make their own decisions) or do we want to make ‘cookie cutter copies’ of the instructor”

I can’t teach (or even think of) every possible situation my students (or even me, myself, for that matter) could get into to place them in jeopardy. For me to teach them the skills they need to survive in an alien environment that requires life support equipment, I feel I need to teach them how to ‘think their way out of a problem’. (I believe that's called problem solving, if I’m not mistaken… )

I want my students to be able to:

“Use their superior intellect to avoid situations in which their superior skill would be required”

...but even so that doesn’t always work and sometimes they have to get themselves out of deep doo-doo. I want them to be able to figure out how to do that 'on the fly'. I want them to be able to think for themselves!

When I was learning to teach flying one of the most important lessons my instructor taught me, one that had far reaching benefits in life, not just aviation, was this. To do something well you need to know one good way to do that task. To teach something well, you need to be able to see all paths that will lead to success and mentor students down the one that is natural for them. The other side of the coin is you have be able to turn someone from a path that won't work to one that will and that fits with the way they think.

There is a difference between being able to do something well and being able to teach something well.

I prefer thinking, situationally aware divers, not only as students but as dive buddies.

Be safe and have fun in the water! Bruce

PS-This is an example of ‘stating the positive', it doesn't say 'so-n-so is wrong', it says 'this is what I believe'.

 

[peterbj7]

Yes, you should swap out or remove from service for evaluation and repair any gear showing signs of trouble be they "first signs" or second signs or whatever signs.

N

Which is what I do, and have been saying (implying) I do.....

 

[peterbj7]

“Use their superior intellect to avoid situations in which their superior skill would be required”

Reminds me of what I learned in flying. "A good pilot can almost always get out of trouble. A REALLY good pilot avoids getting into trouble in the first place".