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

[kidspot]

Personally I do not like pony bottles, but if I had a student come to me for AOW, who used one, we would have a discussion on the merits and demerits of all types of alternate gas supplies (it's part of the OW and AOW course anyway), I would discourage it in favor of my preferred method, then if he determined he preferred carrying it after class we would devote training to it's proper usage during the class including frequent deployment and air shares using it.

So my recommendation to you is, if you are going to carry a pony bottle after training, ask your instructor to help you develop the skills necessary to carrying and using a pony bottle safely and efficiently on dives. You might even explore various ways of mounting and deploying it.

Your other option is to find an instructor who is in favor of pony bottles.

Aloha, Tim

I’m in a bit of a quandary. I have 38 dives now and am taking AOW. My instructor whom I like but who is a self confessed minimalist – doesn’t want glow sticks in night dive training for example), also does not like the 19 cu ft pony I usually wear attached to my main steel 100 with a “x bracket”, with a small Aeris Ion regulator clipped to the BCD. It’s a lot of comfort to me as a newer diver even though I have no intention at this time to exceed any of the recreational diver limits. He says I can keep it on if I must but he would prefer than within rec diving limits I minimize extra gear, trust what I have (Oceanic Delta 4 primary reg, never diving in water below 47 degrees), stay streamlined, etc. I have good air consumption – usually below 0.50 cu ft/min, often around 0.45 unless I am working hard on something, so I don’t have a lot of good arguments to keep it except for “what if” and “I take comfort in it”. Opinions?

 

[telemonster]

A friend tells me his pony has come in handy a number of times. A number of times other divers have run out of air, and it's been easy to hand off the pony to the distressed fool who wasn't doing a good job with gas management and ran out.

Also I believe it's a good idea when diving solo, no?

 

[peterbj7]

If you truly had that many failures I suggest you get out from under the black cloud over your head or give up diving.

Have you spotted that I run (or ran until recently) a dive center? With 50 sets of rental gear and 14 staff?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I think the OP's instructor was trying to explain that the pony is a crutch. Like training wheels on a bicycle, some feel safer having extra safety gear. Wearing a pony introduces more failure points with O-rings and another reg and increases drag. It's everyone's choice whether or not it is worth diving with a piece of gear you hope to never use. I choose to manage my gas, maintain my gear and if I ever have a failure it would likely occur when I have enough gas to safely ascend. If I'm too deep with not enough air to solve a problem, I was pushing my luck to begin with.

 

[usmarinekurt]

I spent 6 years in the USMC and more then that in the US Army. I spent plenty of time outside the wire in Iraq. There is a reason small Scout teams are required to have 3 radios and a sat phone.
If you are going to trust your life on 1 piece of gear that you hope was not assembled on a Friday by someone hungover in Texas then I give you credit for being an idiot.
An answer for a problem is never a bad thing.
When or if your equipment fails (and everytime you dive you increase that chance more)if your "buddy" is more then 3 feet from you you will probably drown or bolt for the top and drown.
I have seen well trained guys under huge pressure that "could breath" do very stupid things.
The bottom line is -your alone down there regardless of who you dive with. When your buddy runs out of air he will kill you to get your regulator-its called survival.
Figure it out.
Obei One is not gonna help you.

train train train know your gear and have a redundancy for you redundancy and you should be fine. ( no guarantees)

 

[MaxBottomtime]

train train train know your gear and have a redundancy for you redundancy and you should be fine. ( no guarantees)

Fortunately we're talking about a recreational diver, not this guy;

Double redundancy is fine in a combat situation but not necessary in shallow water. Coming up with ad-hoc solutions to problems that shouldn't exist is not what the instructor wanted his student to do.

 

[usmarinekurt]

Fortunately we're talking about a recreational diver, not this guy;

Double redundancy is fine in a combat situation but not necessary in shallow water. Coming up with ad-hoc solutions to problems that shouldn't exist is not what the instructor wanted his student to do.

recreational divers.....um 130 feet last I heard.
Id say an alternate air source sounds like a no brainer.

any of the charters REQUIRE them if you want to dive several of the wrecks in New England. All within the "safe recreational" limits

 

[mts0628]

I’m in a bit of a quandary. I have 38 dives now and am taking AOW. My instructor whom I like but who is a self confessed minimalist – doesn’t want glow sticks in night dive training for example), also does not like the 19 cu ft pony I usually wear attached to my main steel 100 with a “x bracket”, with a small Aeris Ion regulator clipped to the BCD. It’s a lot of comfort to me as a newer diver even though I have no intention at this time to exceed any of the recreational diver limits. He says I can keep it on if I must but he would prefer than within rec diving limits I minimize extra gear, trust what I have (Oceanic Delta 4 primary reg, never diving in water below 47 degrees), stay streamlined, etc. I have good air consumption – usually below 0.50 cu ft/min, often around 0.45 unless I am working hard on something, so I don’t have a lot of good arguments to keep it except for “what if” and “I take comfort in it”. Opinions?

Hey DC53:

Congratulations on continuing your diving education. Also, strong work on your low consumption rate.

As far as your "dilemma" unless your agency specifically says no and it's in writing and available, I'd keep the pony bottle if that's what you want to do. If your instructor doesn't want to accommodate you, then find another instructor.

My personal take though, I think more beneficial to you would be to ditch the pony bottle and learn more about gas management techniques. There are some good links but I am unsure if they were mentioned as my eyes glassed over from some of the reading. Nevertheless, lamont and NWGratefulDiver are the two authors that come to mind.

With your low consumption rate, your newly found gas management techniques, sound equipment and a squared-away buddy, you'll have little to worry about. As you're also pursuing further education and hopefully you'll get more dives before the Summer's out (if you're a fair weather diver like I am), you'll become an even better diver (hopefully- I don't know you personally). Good luck!

With kindest regards,
Thomas

 

[captain]

Have you spotted that I run (or ran until recently) a dive center? With 50 sets of rental gear and 14 staff?

I wouldn't put rental gear that takes abuse from people who don't own it and could care less with personal well maintained gear. It's like apples and oranges. I have seen people drive company vehicles in ways they would never drive their own.

 

[usmarinekurt]

Life rarely cooperates.
I dove today off my boat on a wreck called the Celtic. Easy maybe 74 feet.
We dropped down the line at the bow of the wreck the visibility was maybe 8 feet. We went towards the stern -I lost my buddy at least 3 times even though he was close. I don't worry though since he has a redundant air supply , a emergency ascent line and a lift bag for safety.
On the way back the current had picked up so much, I used much more air getting back to our line (marked by 3 strobes). Luckily it worked out, and more lucky we had options if it did not.n(oh wait me having the correct gear if I did have an issue was not luck)