Pony Tips

[34109411]

All answer posted make sense, after is a personnal preference, you need to experience different configuration and see what you like. You should ask yourself one or two questions being :

Why do you need specificaly a 40 CF ?
What's the deepest you will go ?
Calculate sac and RMV and choose cyclinder after.

You instructor will help you out.

Be safe

 

[happy-diver]

You are also missing something important in the advice above. With a back mounted pony, you can not see a leak, you may not be able to monitor pressure and you can not feather the valve on and off during a free flow failure. In addition, a back mounted pony regulator can be confused with the primary tank second stage which, can and has, resulted in fatalities. This type of confusion is almost impossible with a slung bottle.

Also should the diver develop a leak or failure of hose etc. they may not be able to easily discern the source of the failure- primary or pony bottle, when back mounted.

There are significant safety sacrifices one makes for the convenience of back mounting a pony bottle.

The first decision a diver needs to make is how they are going to mount the pony and then choose a size and then figure out rigging and hoses etc. in that order.

Dude, just imagine in a different time and a different place, if these people actually had their
gear serviced properly and actually knew how to dive how magnificent a place that would be


That place would be here

the convenience of back mounting a pony bottle

in a shark in their environment friendly place like this

but come on for sure never ever like this no matter any concerns any one could raise never ever like this

Which is how I see the pseudo wanna be tech slingers slinging and even some tech slingers slinging too

oh and when their little bottle hits them in the face
launching themseves from a boat into the ocean wilderness
usually only once, or maybe even sometimes more


It's okay I still have my hand


I think I might go hang a pig under an aeroplane for christmas, maybe one under each wing for balance

 

[chrisch]

Which is how I see the pseudo wanna be tech slingers slinging and even some tech slingers slinging too

Hopefully they will go on to get proper training and understand the system.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Hopefully they will go on to get proper training and understand the system.

+1 Training and practice are critical. A good solo/self-reliant diver course is very helpful. Regular practice with the pony is also critical. Skills need to be developed, locked into muscle memory, and practiced regularly.

 

[Nemrod]

One picture of a poor fellow who is the poster child for not being squared away, dangly and all ugly does not mean that another fellow could not be squared away, snugged up and all pretty. The only thing he is missing is a Spare Air attached to his pony. Hey, that is an idea, Two Gun McGraw, one is not enough, bring two.

The lower D-ring needs to be up at the harness location to the plate. The upper attach needs a bungee to control swing and snug it up tight. Both connections need to be as short as possible. It really is not hard and the unit pretty much dissaapears in use.

But I like back mounted also and IDs so there you go.

 

[chrisch]

One picture of a poor fellow who is the poster child for not being squared away, dangly and all ugly does not mean that another fellow could not be squared away, snugged up and all pretty. The only thing he is missing is a Spare Air attached to his pony. Hey, that is an idea, Two Gun McGraw, one is not enough, bring two.

The lower D-ring needs to be up at the harness location to the plate. The upper attach needs a bungee to control swing and snug it up tight. Both connections need to be as short as possible. It really is not hard and the unit pretty much dissaapears in use.

But I like back mounted also and IDs so there you go.

I agree with this - there are many examples of poor rigs to be seen in the world of scuba diving. I've seen my fair share of octopus 2nd in the sand and mud over the years.

You can mount the bailout on your back in a "pony" configuration for solo diving. For some people this can be an advantage possibly. The main drawback is the access to the tank valve is near on impossible to reach. However if the bailout freeflows just take it in your stride and head back up. A side mounted rig would have saved the dive.

A back mounted rig can still have a spare inflator hose but it is less udeful. The pressure gauge needs to be on a hose so you can see it.

Personally if using that system I would invert the bailout (now you can reach the valve) and use the 2nd stage to replace the octopus from the conventional buddy rig. This way it works for solo and buddy diving too. A bit longer hose on the bailout is a plus if you use it that way and for buddy/solo deployment.

One great afvantage of solo diving is there is no one else to argue about how you deploy your kit

 

[34109411]

Hopefully they will go on to get proper training and understand the system.

oh

I agree with this - there are many examples of poor rigs to be seen in the world of scuba diving. I've seen my fair share of octopus 2nd in the sand and mud over the years.

You can mount the bailout on your back in a "pony" configuration for solo diving. For some people this can be an advantage possibly. The main drawback is the access to the tank valve is near on impossible to reach. However if the bailout freeflows just take it in your stride and head back up. A side mounted rig would have saved the dive.

A back mounted rig can still have a spare inflator hose but it is less udeful. The pressure gauge needs to be on a hose so you can see it.

Personally if using that system I would invert the bailout (now you can reach the valve) and use the 2nd stage to replace the octopus from the conventional buddy rig. This way it works for solo and buddy diving too. A bit longer hose on the bailout is a plus if you use it that way and for buddy/solo deployment.

One great afvantage of solo diving is there is no one else to argue about how you deploy your kit

solo is the way

 

[Wallowa]

Question: For those using other than air [21%] on safety stops...

#1 What gas and % do you use?

#2 How deep do you use this gas for safety stops?

#3 How do you rig the gas bottle/reg; specifically what equipment is used [line, carry or surface supplied]?

I know all safety stops and ascents are decompression events but please no critiquing on other than air for safety stops.

Thanks!

 

[MrChen]

For me it depends on what I'm doing. If I'm drift diving and not doing anything else, I'll sling an AL40. If I'm spearfishing, a slung tank gets in the way, so I back mount my al19. The only time I've ever had a 1st stage reg failure was when catching a lobster and my slung tank 1st stage got bumped into the ledge and it pinched a hose o-ring. Bubbles were blowing into my face. I wasn't sure where it was coming from until someone else came up to me and pointed at the pony.

I haven't modified my main regulator setup. I suppose I could remove my octo and put my back mounted pony reg on a necklace to streamline. When slung, the reg is bundled up against the tank.

 

[Diver-Drex]

If you’re truly solo diving with a pony, I’d much rather that cylinder be in front of me where I can see a free flow, check pressure, etc.

I took the Deep Diver class with a good OW instructor I know. We discussed the placement of the pony, I had always slung it and he taught everyone with them back mounted. His class, so I did it his way.

He had me switch to the pony during ascent and for the safety stop. Before we got to the stop the pony went OOA. Neither of us noticed the leak.

After that he switched to teaching students to sling their pony bottles.