Pony set ups

[Kaffphine]

Now that I find myself in the techie hot bed of the north-east coast, there are these new things called pony's. I'm definetly going to end up with one, right after I look into backplates (my BC's crap). My question is what are some of the more common size and mateial (Stl vs AL) of the tanks and how are they rigged? As with any this vs. that in the rigging or selection of pony's.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Kaffine....
Oh shoot, there is too much here to deal with....
...
...
...
Kaffine, why do you want a pony????

 

[Rick Murchison]

I find the AL 30 to be just right. I think up East you may run into a little more severe conditions... I've heard most like 40's.
Rick

 

[Kaffphine]

I want to be doing the wrecks off NJ/NY by summer. That's the goal, more than willing to push back if I'm not ready, bad habits remember. I was doing dives at like 70-90 ft and comfortable with that, and wouldn't have a problem going deeper (130ft as a max). But with finding out about everything that can get you caught and lost up here, I don't want to be that deep without some extra air. Especailly now that I have a drysuit and responabity to a buddy off only one tank.

So, I'd be looking at a pony set-up for cold water wreck diving, with enough capacity for two divers to ascent from 95ft with a 5 min hang at 15 ft. If that's too converstive for most divers in those conditions, why and then what set up do they use?

 

[roakey]

Your spare gas is on your buddy's back. Their spare gas is on your back.

"But what if my buddy's not nearby?" Then you need to get a better buddy, or perhaps your buddy needs to get a better buddy. If you're talking wrecks, you're talking overhead. If you're talking overhead you're talking discipline and good, no, excellent buddy procedures. You need to start working on these habits now, being a good buddy is not something that you switch on and off. I know, scubaturek and I are STILL working on it. It's gotta be ingrained, habit, and having the mental set of “I need a pony because my buddy might not be there” is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Roak

 

[Arduous]

I live in the north east as well and dive in the cold Atlantic off of Massachusetts. Most of my diving is below 60 fsw, usually between 70 & 80 fsw. I dive with steel 100’s and always have a pony bottle strapped to my tank. I started using the pony bottle because many of my dives were solo and I wanted the redundant air supply. I use a 13 cuft pony bottle and have never had the need to draw air from it. I dive well within the limits of my ability and my primary air supply. I think of my pony bottle as an emergency item only ( like a flair gun ). When I dive I have no intentions of getting myself in a situation where I would need it, but I take some comfort knowing it’s there.

Dive Safe ………………..Arduous

 

[SDAnderson]

Why opt for a pony bottle instead of doubles?

 

[Waterlover]

Some points I would like to add:
1. A pony mounted on the side of a single tank creates a trim problem for alot of people. The rig is out of balance causing you to roll to the side of the pony. It may also increase your risk of entanglement, by making you wider than even some doubles.
2 ponies give a false sense of security and cause a lack of proper dive planning and buddy skills.
3 The weight of a single and a pony is almost equal to a set of doubles.
4 logistics of most pony mounts does not allow you to turn it on if your forget to open the valve. Doubles being balanced on your back make it easy to operate the valves.
5 If you use it with an octopus on your single tank rig you add an extra second stage increasing your task loading in equipment management.
6 In an actual OOA situation Breathing a long hose from a set of doubles is much easier than trying to breathe from a standard length hose that most people use on ponies.
7 Buy a backplate and wing. Consider twin 80's to start with if you haven't dove twins before.
8 It appears you live in Eastern Pa and will be diving NJ boats. Some NJ Boat captains will require a pony. These are boats you may want to take a close look at avoiding. My idea of a boat captain is he pilots the boat and gets me out and back safely on the boat. He shoudn't be teaching me to dive I should already know how.
Just some more food for thought.
Waterlover.

 

[Lost Yooper]

I agree with many of the above posts. If you're going the technical route, don't waste your time -- get doubles. If you're going wreck diving, eventually you're going to wonder what's inside, and then you'll go inside. You might as well get configured for it now. A pony is a non-solution to a problem that won't come up with proper planning and buddy skills.

Good luck.

Mike

 

[omar]

Ya gotta luv it. We do this post every 6 months or so. It comes down to the fact of whether pigs can sing or not, and if so can you teach them?

For some good and long discussions on this take a look in the archive

omar