Pony Testing/Acclimation (Yet another pony thread)

[rocketry]

Sorry for the repetitive threads about ponies, guys. I see lately ponies have been the topics of choice. My question is as follows:

I am a northeast diver, with low visibility. I am OW certified for 4 years, doing my Nitrox and doing Rescue in the spring (~50 logged dives so far). I have had incidents in the past about losing my buddy on descent - finding him *right* as I am about to execute our lost buddy plan - and yadda yadda yadda. I have a little trouble equalizing, myself, so I normally take a little longer than the average diver on my descent. While the majority of the time I remain with my buddy, there are ALWAYS the untrained ones who are bottom-happy, and don't realize splitting up and "waiting for me at the bottom" puts BOTH of us in danger. That being said, I am buying a pony, both as my own comfort device and to make me more independent as a diver.

I have settled on the "Ultimate Pony Bracket," , mostly because I can use it with rented tanks with much ease.

I have two questions. first, a general question, am I being paranoid? Should I hold off on the pony purchase and find better buddys? Is the pony 'excess' gear I don't need. Mabye I should get a spare-air (JUST KIDDING, JUST KIDDING).

Second, I know it will take a while for me to get used to the new weighting and balance on my back. I will probably spend hours in the pool, and more time fumbling in the open water. I am hoping NEVER to have to breathe off my pony. But, in the beginning when I'm first getting used to it, is there anything wrong with breathing from my pony on my safety stop. I DO NOT mean empty my back gas and rely on the pony, just breathe from it to see what it feels like (not literally, just mentally).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

 

[ianr33]

What are your reasons for wanting to put a pony ON YOUR BACK?

 

[Xman]

so long as you are a competent diver, then it is not too early to get a pony.
Whether you need one or not is hard for anyone else to answer. Sounds like you have some good, and some IMO not so good reasons for wanting one. Used properly, it can only make your diving safer, so I say go ahead and get one. Just make sure you don't think of it as extra useable gas supply, or false bravado and get yourself in trouble.

I personally would not use a back mounted pony, and would instead rig it stage/deco style slung from the left shoulder and left hip d ring if your bcd or bp/w is configured in a way that allows this to work.
That said, plenty of people dive with backmounted ponies. Just ensure that you keep the rig as clutter free as possible.

As for test breathing your pony during safety stop, not only is there nothing wrong with it, but its actually a good idea.

 

[highlandfarmwv]

Why were you just kidding with the spare air comment? Are they just too small? I take photos on every dieve. Wouldn't the sling pony we in the way?

 

[Jake]

Leave what you don't need at home, and bring enough of what you do. If you feel that your safety requires a pony bottle, consider it necessary; it could be the best buddy you ever have. That said, I wouldn't suggest going with a 40cf or anything unless you're really doing diving that requires it.

ianr33 is asking why you don't consider slinging the pony instead of wearing it on your back. I'll vote for having it slung. It really is very simple to dive with one slung, and takes only a minor amount of practice to get used to it. In my case, I use a 19cf on my left side. When using it, I offset my weight to the right side a pound or two to compensate for the added weight from the bottle on the left, but that's about all the practice I needed. You'll find that it really does very little to impact your diving. Shipwreck hatches might get a little tighter, but you figure it out after a swim through or two.

As for breathing off of it during your safety stop: I would suggest that you don't. You're 3 minutes from being out of the water, and will now have to fumble with re-securing the second stage. In addition, you probably won't have a visible SPG on the bottle; why take a chance breathing off it?

I would suggest however, that you do train with deploying it. If you sling it, try different ways of aligning the second stage and try pulling the reg with both hands. If you do wear it on your back, there's not much deployment you have to consider, as the second should be on your chest somewhere. In any case, good luck!

 

[Meister481]

I was looking for redundancy, ditchability and ease of use. I went with the Quickdraw bracket because you can pull a pin and hand it off. It takes no modification of your tank or bc and the stay bracket just threads onto your tank band. I have been using this system ever since I started wreck penetrations, since then many people have seen my unit and gotten one of their own. One of my regular buddies has borrowed the unit since I have doubles now. A 19 will get you back from 120 with a safety stop unless you are a big breather. Your LDS should be able to order it, please give your LDS a chance before you order online.

 

[SNorman]

I watched the DIR videos someone posted a link to recently, and noticed they said back mounted pony bottles were stupid. Why is that? I mean, your main tank is on your back too. Maybe I'm not sure what a pony bottle is. Wouldn't it have a regulator with a second stage attached to you somewhere in front?

 

[jeckyll]

--------------------------------------
I have two questions. first, a general question, am I being paranoid? Should I hold off on the pony purchase and find better buddys? Is the pony 'excess' gear I don't need. Mabye I should get a spare-air (JUST KIDDING, JUST KIDDING).

Second, I know it will take a while for me to get used to the new weighting and balance on my back. I will probably spend hours in the pool, and more time fumbling in the open water. I am hoping NEVER to have to breathe off my pony. But, in the beginning when I'm first getting used to it, is there anything wrong with breathing from my pony on my safety stop. I DO NOT mean empty my back gas and rely on the pony, just breathe from it to see what it feels like (not literally, just mentally).

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

FWIW, here are my thoughts (I'm going through the 'should I buy a pony / stage' issue currently myself).

1) With good budding in recreational environments it should not be necessary once you have good gas management and buddy skills.

2) If you end up diving with folks whom you are not familiar with, is doing deep, dark dives really the best place to start?

3) IMO, the only time you would need a pony is if first you have buddy separation, then second you have either bad gas planning or a catastropic failure of a first stage. If you do how a catastrophic failure, how long will you have before no gas gets delivered? (I'm thinking here for a froze first stage leading to a free flow).

4) Diving with a slung bottle really isn't that hard. I've borrowed one (30 cf) for a couple of dives and was able to adjust quite easily to the change in buoyancy characteristics.

Now, I'm looking to purchase a 40 cf currently and it will be slung on my left side. Why? Because I am going to be diving wrecks that are in 80 - 130 fsw. I'm not really ready for doubles yet (though I'm not ruling them out sometime next year) and I do want a redundant air supply. I will not include the 40 in my gas plan, it is purely for redundancy in case of a catastropic failure _and_ buddy seperation. That is a pretty slim chance IMO, but if I'm at 110 fsw and the smelly brown stuff hits the spinning blades, I'm covered. At the same time, should I get into technical diving, in a ocean environment the 40 should provide enough gas volume for any deco.

Hope that helps.

Bjorn

 

[PerroneFord]

Where is the pony SPG?

 

[jeckyll]

Perrone: On the one I'm going to get? I could post some links the the baue equipment pages if you like

Just being a smarta*se, I know what you are getting at and that it's directed at the back mounting