Pony bottle - what size?

[LeadTurn_SD]

...Second, after awhile you may find that for dives less than 50ft you won't want a redundant airsource. My plan at those depths is just to CESA. Redundancy really comes into play (for me) on dives below a depth that I feel I can comfortably CESA from. That's just my opinion though, everybody has to make their own decisions about that....


....The big selling feature for spare air is that it is small and easy to carry. You will find however, that most people that use proper ponies don't have an issue with slinging or mounting them. It is a non issue. As well the reg set from your pony can be used in a pinch if you need to replace a 1st or 2nd stage on a dive. You may also want to check if the shops in your area will service the spareair reg set and whether you can get hydros done on it.

1+

Good points.

Ryco: I don't generally carry a pony for dives that do not exceed about 50'. If I dove in dark, cold water this might be different. But in the environment I dive, 50-60' is well within CESA range.

There have been long, LONG threads regarding Spare Air. In a nutshell, while it MAY be enough air to get you directly to the surface from 50-60', I would not bet my life on it any deeper. You may not have a full 3.0 cu.ft., you may be "delayed" momentarily, etc.

3.0 cu.ft. is just not much air....you could easily run out of air twice on the same dive

For dives deeper than 60', I carry a spare human

When I do carry a pony, it is a 30 cu.ft., not 3.0 cu.ft, and is very easy to sling, and I don't even feel it underwater.

Best wishes.

 

[b1gcountry]

huh?

im filling it with the adapter that came with it. it hooks to the tank valve on my al80

Spare air used to sell this adapter that hooked up to the first stage of your regulator between the HP hose and HP port. The adapter had this cotter-pin like thing that you would pull out, then hook it up somehow to the Spare Air to fill it. A local tech showed me this on a reg that came in for service one time and it was really scary. The reg was pretty...unique to begin with. It had two 7' hoses, and a backup SPG.

Tom

 

[Bob DBF]

I picked a Spare Air shortly after they were on the market and found that when I used it in a cruddy environment (No. CA Ocean) it invariably leaked and had to be disassembled and cleaned. Tinkerer that I am I like to use safety gear to make sure it works and to be able to deploy it easily. I got tired of fooling with it. With the depths I was diving a CESA was not a problem and the Spare Air would give me a bit more time during the ascent.

Don't get me wrong, the Spare Air does what it was designed to do, I just wanted it to be something it wasn't.

I have since used it in the pool to scare kids and dogs, the wife is not amused.

Now that I'm getting the Double Hose and J Valve in shape to dive and am diving my rig deeper solo, I will be picking up a Pony shortly and appreciate the info given in this thread.

Bob

 

[Amphibious]

I sling an AL30 rigged like a DIR stage. it's very easy to manage any possible entanglements in this location, and gives you total comfort and an unrushed accent from any recreational depth with a 15' stop.

some might argue it's to large, but rigged this way it is hardly noticeable

 

[AfterDark]

I've been considering getting a 13cuft pony but after reading this post and several others I'm going with a 19cuft tank mounted. Thanks all!

 

[Jai Bar]

When I started diving solo, I said to myself that I'll be diving only in shallow waters up to 30ft, so I thought nothing of redundancy.

Next, as I was diving with a yoke regulator and during one the dives the o-ring broke I decided to go for redundancy. I kept diving with a single tank, but with a double valve and two first stages "just for case that one fails". both were yokes, and I can tell that it is not so easy for a solo diver to turn the valve off if there is a reg failure.

After seeing my own folly, I decided to go for real redundancy and started diving with a pony, slung as a deco stage. This worked quite good for a while, and after more o-ring problems with the yoke I decided that for solo diving it is better to avoid these small leaks and switched all regs to DIN. No O ring problems whatsoever since then...

Then I thought why I keep this type of redundancy? What I'd really like is to have full control of both tanks/stages, just to have them handy should any case happen. When the tank backmounted, you don't really see what is happening to it, nor you can really treat any problem with it.

I migrated to sidemounting. A sort of. As I am not a cave diver, and all my solo dives are OW I still keep the regular rig that I was using (BP+Wing), added to the wing a "No Single Tank Adapter" (just a small plate that does not allow the wing to "fold")- NSTA

I added to the BP a bungee cord for the tank's necks. It is a long bungee that goes under the armpits and then to the chest D-rings with a dog clip.

Made a "Buttplate" from 2" webbing and 2 D-rings (found the pictures and idea by googling for DIY buttplate", also considering DSS's tailplate).

Rigging two tanks for sidemount is a matter of 5 minutes, based on a tank CAM band and one dog clip. I take these two bands with me everywhere and put them on any combination of 10L/12L tanks, thus having anything between 20-24 liters with me.

Over all, the same rig can be used for regular Back Mounted diving, or by adding the small NSTA for SM diving. It seems a big effort, but it is really easy to convert a rig for *OW* sidemount, and you don't lose anything as it can be still used for backmount anytime.

Both tanks sit just under the armpit, the valves all the time can be inspected during the dive, and any malfunction addressed properly on the spot.

I can't think of diving solo on any other configuration! IMHO a solo diver should not carry the tanks on his back (single or doubles), and if you do go BM, sling an additional tank either "stage style" or "sidemount style" and avoid yoke regs for the back mounted- a real tank, not a spare air joke. If you want to do it even better, should use two tanks same size and go for thirds rule (there are many variations, all will do better than having only a spare air or a 13cf tank).

It is even easier to take the tanks by hand to the water rather than carrying them on the back.