Pony Bottles: Good or bad...where to wear them etc

[hecker-the-wrecker]

cheeze, take the boxing gloves off! I never thought much about diving with a pony, until recently. I went to dive lake superior with a friend who "insisted" I wear one. When we got to the wreck at 70ft, I never thought twice about having a problem. This winter we plan on ice diving to recover cars. With the ambient temp bieng around 0 degrees f, I welcome a redundant system. To each his own, I will choose to wear one if i'm going below 50ft, or if conditions are really poor. (bad vis,temp e.t.c.)

 

[StSomewhere]

By resurrecting a 3 1/2 year old thread on a topic with many more recent discussions, it seems you are already trying to do that :11:

I'm no scuba veteran, but I have been around message boards as a sysadmin, moderator and user since the days of RelayNet/RIME and FidoNet (Fight-O-Net). The new "Similar Threads" feature is a great way to link back to the old, tired threads. The problem is that it invariably winds up reviving these threads, probably by people who don't even realize how old they are.

The admins might want to consider automatically locking threads after (fill-in-the-blank) months of inactivity. That way the information is still there, but the discussions are kept current. And if the topic is worth more discussion, people can start new threads (even linked back to old discussions).

And, yes, I suggested exactly this in the Suggestions forum.

 

[lamont]

I don't have one yet, but wouldn't nitrox for an 100ft+ emergency be pretty good if you were previously breathing air?

Even with EAN36, you're not going to CNS tox immediately and the boost in oxygen to the brain should get you thinking straight pretty quickly...

Wouldn't this be a good idea?

oxygen is also narcotic. it'd be better to have a lean enough mix so that whatever emergency caused you to go to the pony doesn't also add ox tox to the fun. if you want to think clearly at depth, you'd want to put some helium in your pony...

 

[OE2X]

maybe Snowbear was having a bad day, and looking for someone to take it out on.

Hold on there cowboy. Unless you know Snowbear, then you are unqualified to make the assumption that she would reflect her bad day upon you or another SB member. Read the vast number of her posts to understand the tone of writings and you will likely come to the conclusion that yours is an erroneous judgement call.

She is a fantastic resource to learn from and is willing and happy to impart her vast knowledge.

BTW - her reputation is that she is an extraordinary diver, though she will be the last to say or believe that. This woman does walk the walk and is more than qualified to talk the talk. Among her other credentials is that she passed DIR Fundementals and then in little over six months passed GUE Tech 1. If you are not familiar with either of these courses, I will asure you that even DIR-F is not a cakewalk.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Hey, what a typical response from an established member..............


I deleted the rest of my original post. It was long, loud and angry, and maybe Snowbear was having a bad day, and looking for someone to take it out on.

Snowbear wasn't having a bad day ... actually, she was doing you a favor. Her response was a simple warning that you were approaching a sensitive topic in a manner that was sure to create flames from some of the more excitable members of the board. Your last comment indicates that you are aware of this, yet you posted it anyway. Sure left me wondering if you were attempting to induce a flame war.

FWIW - we try to keep those off this board.

You're a new poster, and a new diver. As such, I hope people will give you a bit of margin to figure out how to properly ask for opinion ... in which case you'll usually receive well-considered responses from divers with a great deal of experience. Your original entry seemed to be a bit aggressive ... especially coming from a new diver looking for information.

I still dont think the 19 or so extra cu ft of air will make me stupid.

:babycrawl

Neither do I ... but that really wasn't the issue.

FWIW - as a new member of our forum, keep in mind that strong opinions will typically be met with strong opinions ... usually from people who have had the opportunity to learn a great deal more than you. As a law officer, I'm sure you were trained in incident management ... and the confrontational approach is seldom the first option. A less aggressive approach will generally get you much better results ... we really do try to keep gas and matches out of here.

That's what Snowbear was getting at ... if your goal is information, a different approach will reap higher-quality responses.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Snowbear]

Thanks for stickin' up for me

Yeah, GratefulBob, that's pretty much what I was gettin' at, but obviously using many fewer words that came out much more abrasive

If I was as diplomatic as you, I would not have to keep reminding myself to live up to my sig line

 

[Rick Inman]

Thanks for stickin' up for me

Speaking of pony bottles, I still have a kink in my back from lifting a tank/pony combo off of one U.P. boat belonging to one pre-fundies-now-anti-pony-diver who I won't mention, least she and her followers also flame me into smithereens.

 

[OE2X]

Speaking of pony bottles, I still have a kink in my back from lifting a tank/pony combo off of one U.P. boat belonging to one pre-fundies-now-anti-pony-diver who I won't mention, least she and her followers also flame me into smithereens.

Now Rick are you sure it wasn't her doubles that you were giving her a hand with?

 

[Snowbear]

Now Rick are you sure it wasn't her doubles that you were giving her a hand with?

Yep, he's sure
Although I was diving those doubles at home, I didn't ship 'em that trip.
That was also the trip (and subsequent comments and suggestions from ol' Pug as well as the reading of discussions) that convinced me of the folly of relying on a pony bottle
DIRf didn't happen for another couple of months

 

[trieste]

I bought a 30cf bottle/pony/whatever at a local LDS "yard sale", along with a "pony tamer" kit (total outlay $40) I dove with it once on my back, got tangled in the lead line from the boat once. I can see it as a potential entanglement hazard back there. So now that I did some impulse buying, I'm wondering what to do with it. I'll try the stage bottle rig (left side, D-Rings) to see how it goes. My original intent was as a "bailout" bottle, (I keep very close watch on my gas and don't plan on becoming complacent -- but Murphy is always around)

What to do?