Pony bottle skills

[grf88]

I forgot to mention that on the rare occasions that I dive my single 95 I don't go deeper than I could make it up with a blown O-ring. I've been diving doubles so long that I'm actually nervous diving with a single.

I was too polite to point out that inconsistency. If you are nervous while diving a single why don't you consider a pony.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I was too polite to point out that inconsistency. If you are nervous while diving a single why don't you consider a pony.

Because doubles gives me a lot more gas than a pony would, they have an added safety feature whereas if I had a reg failure I would still have access to all my gas and I don't have to carry a piece of gear that I would hope to never use. I guess nervous was a bad choice of words. I meant to say that it is always in the back of my mind that if I'm solo and have a catastrophic gas loss I would have to ascend. With doubles I have plenty of time to stop, solve the problem, then make a normal ascent.

 

[grf88]

Because doubles gives me a lot more gas than a pony would, they have an added safety feature whereas if I had a reg failure I would still have access to all my gas and I don't have to carry a piece of gear that I would hope to never use. I guess nervous was a bad choice of words. I meant to say that it is always in the back of my mind that if I'm solo and have a catastrophic gas loss I would have to ascend. With doubles I have plenty of time to stop, solve the problem, then make a normal ascent.

I was only referring to when you dove a single tank. Please understand I have no argument against using doubles especially if you need the extra air for the dive, it is just that pony's are also a viable form of redundancy and for some people are more suitable than doubles.

 

[BlueDolphin]

I have not seen anyone dive doubles from the boats around here. Mostly because none of them would be diving doubles for redundancy. They would be diving doubles for more bottom time. And what good is that when all the other divers are back in the boat in 40 minutes? I think I would feel like a jackass with doubles off of a boat around here. I think in some situations a pony makes sense. Especially for those who feel that their day is due, or they have really crappy luck (even planning to perfection).

I would rather save the doubles for beach diving or when diving with others who are also diving doubles. But to dive doubles ONLY for redundancy I think would be better accomplished using a pony.

And to suggest that slinging a pony is more streamlined than hard mounted????

 

[Web Monkey]

I've done both and the position doesn't seem to make much of a difference since the tank has the same surface area whether it's parallel to your body in front or behind.

The advantage of slinging it is that you can turn it off when you don't need it, on when you do, see the gauge, know exactly which reg goes with which tank and hand it off to someone else if necessary.

When it's behind you, you can do any of these, and there's always the possibility of the question "which second stage goes with which tank." , which is exactly what you don't want in an emergency.

Terry

And to suggest that slinging a pony is more streamlined than hard mounted????

 

[Soggy]

I think I would feel like a jackass with doubles off of a boat around here. I think in some situations a pony makes sense. Especially for those who feel that their day is due, or they have really crappy luck (even planning to perfection).

Who cares what the other jackasses on the boat think? If you start realistically calculating your rock bottoms for 100ft dives, you'll quickly realize that you either need big singles or doubles to make a dive of any reasonable duration. An Al80, for example is just not enough gas to make a 100ft dive worth doing except maybe on a wall in the Bahamas or something...that's what drove my decision to start diving doubles. Who wants to do a 15 minute dive when you have at least 30-40 minutes of available time?!

I would rather save the doubles for beach diving or when diving with others who are also diving doubles. But to dive doubles just for redundancy I think would be better accomplished using a pony.

Have fun humping those doubles down the beach. It's not fun.

And to suggest that slinging a pony is more streamlined than hard mounted????

An aluminum tank slung stage-style rides up into the slipstream and is more streamlined than sticking it on your back, though this is probably a fairly minor point. A slung steel tank will just hang there and drag along the bottom.

 

[Sideband]

Scary? Every major agency teaches diving to 130 ft (others cut it off at 80 or 100) without requireing a pony or any redundancy on OW no-stop dives.

#snip#

There's no reason for an instructor to encourage redundancy for recreational no-stop dives and I'm certainly not aware of any training standards that require them to.

Certainly for dives in an overhead (real or virtual) other steps are needed but a pony doesn't cut it there either.

While NAUI doesn't require a pony for deep dives, it certainly encourages the use. It was said in basic OW that a seperate, redundant air supply is superior to a single supply with an octo.. In the advanced text book it is mentioned several times that a pony bottle is a good idea on deeper dives. It is also mentioned in the videos for both classes. There may not be a requirement that it be encouraged but the training materials certainly do include it and suggest it.

Joe

 

[doole]

While NAUI doesn't require a pony for deep dives, it certainly encourages the use. It was said in basic OW that a seperate, redundant air supply is superior to a single supply with an octo.. In the advanced text book it is mentioned several times that a pony bottle is a good idea on deeper dives. It is also mentioned in the videos for both classes. There may not be a requirement that it be encouraged but the training materials certainly do include it and suggest it.

Joe

Superior to an octo? Does that mean that you are supposed to abandon the octo in favour of the pony? (Just curious.)

 

[Sideband]

Superior to an octo? Does that mean that you are supposed to abandon the octo in favour of the pony? (Just curious.)

I didn't take it to mean that. I can see how that could be thought though. Looking at it a little differently, those that use a large tank with an H valve and 2 first stages, do you use one reg on each primary or do you have a total of 3 or 4 second stage regs.?

Joe

 

[matt_unique]

...
The advantage of slinging it is that you can turn it off when you don't need it, on when you do, see the gauge, know exactly which reg goes with which tank and hand it off to someone else if necessary.

When it's behind you, you can do any of these, and there's always the possibility of the question "which second stage goes with which tank." , which is exactly what you don't want in an emergency.

Terry

You can do all the above with a hard mount pony except handing it off of course. Mount your pony upside down so you can easily access the valve. The way you mount your regulators and SPG to your BC would ensure your abillity to know what regulators/gauge go to what tank. In this case we're talking about a single primary and one pony bottle so it would not be difficult.

--Matt