Pony Bottle setup

[Sbiriguda]

Ok thanks...I have to understand if this works out in my case. Anyway you give me hope... that D-Ring on the right shoulder strap perhaps might prove useful, otherwise I would say this kind of BCD doesn't make it possible to carry the pony bottle. I have no experience at all but I would instinctively agree with @tbone1004
A pony bottle is meant to be used in danger and panic situations, securing them on the tank might work when you are making exercises in the pool but not when you are in danger, that is when you really need it

 

[Doby45]

The whole pony on the left is to keep a long hose from being trapped. If you are strictly in a recreational environment it will not matter which side you hang your pony on. Now if you do go down the technical path it could ingrain a bad habit, but once you are technical you generally do not deal with “ponies”. You normally have redundant gas in the form of sidemount or backmount doubles and will then be learning about stage and deco bottles.

 

[rhwestfall]

@rvojr I don't believe in pony bottles, but if I were to use one, it would be setup exactly like a deco bottle.

SPG-you either have enough gas or you don't, use a button gauge. You aren't going to ever actually check it during the dive, so why add the extra failure points for something that isn't going to be used? It doesn't matter if it's 2700 or 2900 or 3100, it should be oversized anyway, so you just need to know if it's "full ish"

Reg hose-typically I would say 40", but since you're going on a swivel turret you can get away with a shorter hose. I use a 30" hose in sidemount, and that would be my recommendation. May be a few inches longer or shorter depending on your size, but 22" is too short. 40" is fine, it will just go down then back up. 0 issues there.

Inflator-I would have an inflator on there. If you lose your primary bottle for whatever reason, you're going to want some way to inflate your suit and/or wing. All of my regulators have inflators on them.

Left open. If diving with a pony, there is no need for a short hose on the necklace since the pony is your backup. Leave it on and around your neck.

How to keep it streamlined with regular rigging. Do this on your backplate on the left side. It is literally a life-changer when it comes to stages

@tbone1004 : any better step by step to rigging this on a standard bp?

 

[tbone1004]

@rhwestfall if I remember tomorrow I'll take a couple pictures. Basically you put the bungee thru two holes on the backplate, tie a figure-8 knot on the end of each, and rig it the same way. I'll try to get @The Chairman to remind me tomorrow before I gear up

 

[CWK]

I have my pony clipped to my left shoulder and waist D-rings the same way that I carry a stage bottle. I once entered the water with the pony valve on and the pony second stage free-flowed resulting in an almost empty pony at the beginning of the dive. I now enter the water with the pony regulator pressurised but valve off, then I repressurise once I am in the water but then turn the valve back off just as I would for a deco bottle descent bubble check. I would have to turn the valve on in the event that the pony is deployed. To me, this is not a problem as I do the same when deploying my deco stages. I could also turn the valve on once I am in the water and leave it on ready for deployment. To me, this is where pony size matters. If I'm using a 6 cu ft pony, I want to avoid accident loss of air, so the valve will be off. If I'm using a 20 cu ft pony or larger, I could conceivably leave the valve on as some accidental loss of air is less critical.

On my last trip, I was diving with a buddy who had a 6 cu ft pony attached to the back of her BC in a position where she could not reach the valve. At the end of one dive she had 50 bar left in the pony even though it had not been deployed. She had managed to lose most of the air in her pony during the dive. I suspect it was upon entry into the water.

There is more than one way to set up the pony. You just have to figure out what works for you.

 

[tbone1004]

@rhwestfall I remembered! You can see how the bungee goes through the hole in the backplate, then where it lives while "stowed" on the bottom

 

[rhwestfall]

@tbone1004 : thanks for that. curious to this part:

 

[tbone1004]

@rhwestfall like the video, it is a short piece of ~1/8" bungee so it slides up and down