Really Interested in a Pony - What size? How to mount? Other questions!

[ams511]

A couple a comments:

I couldn't make out from your photos if you have a snap on your second stage. After deploying the second stage you clip the second stage to a d-ring when not in use. For example when exiting after using the pony.

If you finger tighten the second stage to the hose then just unscrew the second stage and slip the hose through the loop and then re-attach the second stage. This should save you from disassembling the pony after use.

 

[Rand]

I don't care for the port configuration of my first stage and cut my finger pretty good trying to loosen up the reg hose so I can move the hose to a different port.

Yes, you will find this with some regs. I just sold one simply because I didn't like how the HP hose routed on the first stage on that reg.

I know you said the to sling on the left side, but my BCD has a really nice pocket on the left and a crappy one on the right. I store my reel and SMB on the left when drift diving, so I'm most likely going to sling on my right so that it's easier to unclip my reel. I'd hate to accidentally unclip the bottom of my sling. When I get a BP/W next year, I'll re-evaluate this and re-configure for a left sling.

For DIR, we sling all bottles on the left. This is mainly due to our 7 foot primary hose being looped under our canister light and stowed on the right. If we were to sling a bottle on the right, that bottle could interfere with the deployment and donation of the long hose in a gas share.

It sounds like in your current configuration, you have a reason not to sling it on the left. Your future BP/W won't have any pockets to be covered by the bottle, so you can sling it as you wish.

When you're ready, hit me up and I can walk you through gluing on pockets to your wetsuit. You'll need them with the BP/W.

 

[T.C.]

I couldn't make out from your photos if you have a snap on your second stage.

Wouldn't that make it more challenging to deploy under stress? I sure wouldn't want to be nursing the little air in my lungs if I went OOA, and trying to fumble with a snap to get the reg that has the air I really want to breath.

Once that reg comes out, who cares what happens to it? You're using it because someone is out of gas, and they'll need it all the way up to the boat and up the
ladder.

IIf you finger tighten the second stage to the hose then just unscrew the second stage and slip the hose through the loop and then re-attach the second stage. This should save you from disassembling the pony after use.

That sounds like an easy way for it to come unscrewed. The few times that a pony is used do not justify making your system dangerous by having a loose hose.

Torque it to spec.

These ideas may be great for a stage bottle, where the reg is often deployed and stowed during a dive, but this isn't a stage bottle; the rules for them do not apply to a pony.

I know you said the to sling on the left side, but my BCD has a really nice pocket on the left and a crappy one on the right. I store my reel and SMB on the left when drift diving, so I'm most likely going to sling on my right so that it's easier to unclip my reel. I'd hate to accidentally unclip the bottom of my sling. When I get a BP/W next year, I'll re-evaluate this and re-configure for a left sling.

I agree, you're better off leaving it on the right. Just as long as it doesn't interfere with your octo. This isn't a stage bottle, it's emergency gas; you want it where it's comfortable (if it's not, you may start leaving it behind to be comfortable), and easy to use, and easy to use in concert with the rest of your gear.

 

[MrChen]

I agree, you're better off leaving it on the right. Just as long as it doesn't interfere with your octo. This isn't a stage bottle, it's emergency gas; you want it where it's comfortable (if it's not, you may start leaving it behind to be comfortable), and easy to use, and easy to use in concert with the rest of your gear.

And none of this is set in stone. I'll try it on the right and then try it on the left. I'm open to playing with it and figuring out what works best. Now get back down here so we can dive

 

[T.C.]

October, unless I get blown out on my Key Largo trips (or cancel one in favor of WPB).

I'd be down more, but that 9 hour drive is a killer, both the time and the money - plus the paperwork I have to do for the Army.

 

[bradells]

A couple a comments:

I couldn't make out from your photos if you have a snap on your second stage. After deploying the second stage you clip the second stage to a d-ring when not in use. For example when exiting after using the pony.

I hope your talking about clipping the backgas primary second stage .. Otherwise that's what the bands are for, Before and After usage. No boltsnaps required.

You don't have to use both bands when stowing, or make it textbook pretty. Just enough to be stowed, tucked away and out of damages way (as much as a reg can be strapped to a slung cylinder.)

if you are varying more cylinders or are in overheads with entanglements, then the more stowed the better.

In your application of this bottle. Stowed enough is all you need.


Personally, I'd change the orientation of the rigging to facilitate the cylinder valve handle to the outside (whichever side you choose .. roughly 30-45deg from the valve front/back) and clean up the rigging from webbing to cord. Add a second pipe strap (and put some hollow tubing around it). Also, tuck the mouthpiece under the LP hose when stowing (keeps the reg from bobbing around in current and tight to the cylinder)

BRad

 

[ams511]

Wouldn't that make it more challenging to deploy under stress? Once that reg comes out, who cares what happens to it?

I guess reading comprehension is not your strong suit. Please note I said AFTER DEPLOYMENT when you are done you clip it off. I care what happens to my second stage after it is out of my mouth. I don't like broken regulators do you?

That sounds like an easy way for it to come unscrewed. The few times that a pony is used do not justify making your system dangerous by having a loose hose. Torque it to spec.

The hose is attached to the first stage normally and finger-tight on the second. There is nothing loose. If it is so dangerous then why is this technique taught in technical diving courses for changing malfunctioning second stages under water? I guess you know more than tech agencies. Also please tell me the last time you saw a dive shop use a torque wrench on a hose fitting. Better yet ask them to explain to you how to do the math to calculate the torque when using an extension on a torque wrench. I am sure they will have no idea what you are talking about.

These ideas may be great for a stage bottle, where the reg is often deployed and stowed during a dive, but this isn't a stage bottle; the rules for them do not apply to a pony.

I disagree. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. The only real difference between a pony and a stage is how it is used. However, in practice usually ponies are a smaller cylinder but not always, some people like to use 40s as both a pony and a stage. A pony bottle is insurance against first stage problems when diving solo or when buddy separation could be a problem.

---------- Post added April 25th, 2014 at 07:30 PM ----------

I hope your talking about clipping the backgas primary second stage .. Otherwise that's what the bands are for, Before and After usage. No boltsnaps required.

This is what I am talking about but it is difficult to see the bolt strap under the inner tube. Mr Chen mentioned he has no way of restowing the hose underwater. My suggestion is don't, just clip off the second stage to a shoulder d-ring. Most BCs have them.

 

[PfcAJ]

Finger tight is baloney. Finger tight also means finger loose. Don't do it

If you have enough bottles in the water where swapping a 2nd stage can be a viable option, take a spanner with you but always keep your regs spanner tight. Skip out on the loose reg nonsense and save yourself a potential serious problem.

No no boltsnaps needed on stage/deco/pony regs. It's either in your mouth or stowed in the rubberbands, and even then, that little clip WILL catch on things. I've seen it a bunch, and it's happened to me a bunch, so I cut them all off.

 

[ams511]

Finger tight is baloney. Finger tight also means finger loose. Don't do it

If you have enough bottles in the water where swapping a 2nd stage can be a viable option, take a spanner with you but always keep your regs spanner tight. Skip out on the loose reg nonsense and save yourself a potential serious problem.

All my second stages are finger tight as I do swap them from first stages. NONE have ever come undone. I also lube the fittings lightly so the parts don't stick. The o-ring is what seals the connection not how tight it is (within limits).

As far as stowage goes, Mr. Chen says he can't which is why I suggested a bolt snap. I am not sure what it will catch on that the tank rigging won't but then again I do not dive very challenging environments.

 

[PfcAJ]

You haven't had one come loose yet. When you do, you're going to have a bad time when that lp hose shoots off the end of the reg and smacks you in the face, you suck water, and your tank drains in a matter of seconds.

Lets be real. How often are you REALLY swapping regs? So often that a spanner is just too much? The whole point of that "recommendation" was so that regs could be swapped easily underwater. However, the same group that recommended that found that the frequency and risk of them coming apart was way worse and way more common, and you still can swap them by using the right tool.

Finger tight is a cute trick till it isnt