pony bottles

[Xanthro]

Monkeys could fly out of my butt, too. I thought we were talking about real life. You can practice whatever you want, but when you're down on the bottom and you draw that last breath, I assure you, you aren't going to be breathing a .5. I know *very* few people that breathe a .5 even when they are calm as can be, except in ridiculously warm water with ridiculous visibility. I spend a lot of time practicing OOG drills myself, but I guarantee if the time ever comes that I *need* to go up to my buddy after having drawn my last breath, my heart will be thumping a bit..

People react very differently under that type of stress. With a redundant air supply my sac is not going to double. It will go up, but won't come close to double.

I was once abandoned by a boat buddy and ended up entangled in kelp (shouldn't have tried to surface in a kelp forest to check on lost buddy) and without redundant air my sac barely moved. I figured I had enough air to last another 45 minutes, so someone would eventually come looking for me if I couldn't work myself lose.

I'm sure if you go to a buddy, then your heart rate will go up. Many unknowns involved. Knowing that I can turn a valve and have air really helps keep me calm, even if I swim over to a buddy in an OOA situation.

I have yet to hear a good argument against taking a pony other than people may push the gas planning too hard because of the pony. Outside of that, what drawback is there? It's a piece of gear you may never use? I may never use my octo, or my airbags in my car. If something goes wrong with a pony, I'm no worse off than if I didn't have it to begin with.

As long as the pony is completly out of your thoughts when planning the dive, I see no drawbacks.

 

[redacted]

Yeah, until they knew better....just because you ran out of gas is no reason to blow your ascent plan. You might want to figure in a few cft extra to shoot a lift bag, too, so the boat doesn't run you over, or you don't drift out to sea.

But, feel free to cut your *BAILOUT GAS* that that close. I think that's borderline suicidal and completely idiotic. Hell, if you only need 5 cft, you should just get a manifolded spare-air or dive with one of those little 6cft argon bottles. Since you blew your plan so ridiculously that you are completely out of gas, and your buddy is gone, I'm sure you couldn't possibly have accumulated a deco obligation of any sort and your computer will always be "in the yellow", whatever that means.

Yeah, I'm still planning 60 FPM until I hit 30 ft. And I'm still using 1.6 for PPO2. And I often plan on hitting the rest stop with less than 500 psi (allows me to test my Mk7). I'm unclear what plan you are thinking I blew and I thought it was clear I had no buddy in my plan. I am just a recreational diver. I have never used more gas than I planned on and I have never gone beyond NDLs. I thought it was faily clear that the OOA that I hypothesised was related to an equipment failure.

And, yes. I recognised that one might use this scenario to make the case that spare air is better than no air.

 

[francousteau]

I thought it was clear I had no buddy in my plan. I am just a recreation diver.

In all fairness, this is what you said in your earlier post:

(good thing I'm diving with the guy who serviced that reg).

 

[JeffG]

In all fairness, this is what you said in your earlier post:

Maybe he serviced his own reg.

 

[redacted]

In all fairness, this is what you said in your earlier post:

I'm sorry I caused some confusion. The only person who touches my regs is me. So I know that the guy who services my reg is just as concerned about my well being as I am.

 

[Soggy]

Yeah, I'm still planning 60 FPM until I hit 30 ft. And I'm still using 1.6 for PPO2. And I often plan on hitting the rest stop with less than 500 psi (allows me to test my Mk7).

Sorry, but those are all [insert less offensive synonym for moronic, stupid, idiotic, etc] plans that provide for no margin of error and contradict modern knowledge of hyperbaric medicine and physiology. An educated diver should be doing 30 fpm from the bottom and then 10fpm from the first safety stop on up.

 

[Web Monkey]

People react very differently under that type of stress. With a redundant air supply my sac is not going to double. It will go up, but won't come close to double.

If your "stressed" SAC wasn't at least double what your happy-drifting-in-sunny-blue-water SAC is, then chances are really good you weren't all that stressed.

Terry

 

[Heffey]

For my use as a recreational diver a pony bottle is a mishap mitigation device.

I look at a pony as something that will lessen the severity of a problem, not necessarily resolve the problem.

Let’s say I am at 60 ft and I can run out of air (for whatever reason) and I have no choice but to perform a CESA. How many extra breaths would I like to have? One breath? Thanks, that would be nice. Two breaths? Fantastic! Three breaths? Ok, you can probably see where I am going.

I understand all the talk about S.A.C. , tank volume and gas planning but for me it is more about the carry. How much redundant air can I carry without it negatively impacting my recreational diving.

What is the right size pony? One that is large enough to carry some extra air and compact enough so that you will take it with you every time.

 

[redacted]

Sorry, but those are all [insert less offensive synonym for moronic, stupid, idiotic, etc] plans that provide for no margin of error and contradict modern knowledge of hyperbaric medicine and physiology. An educated diver should be doing 30 fpm from the bottom and then 10fpm from the first safety stop on up.

I understand what you are saying. I just don't understand why I and many other divers like me are not just dropping like flys.:06:

 

[JeffG]

I understand what you are saying. I just don't understand why I and many other divers like me are not just dropping like flys.:06:

The aura of your pony bottle is protecting you.