Recommendations for pony bottle/regulator set up for solo diving

[Tigerpaw]

Which BC do you have? Jacket or BP/W? I’ve had a buddy with a jacket style BC that didn’t have D rings in the proper places and couldn’t sling a 30cft pony. I think a 40 is best, but if your BC can’t handle it, then you have to look at other options.

I have a Cressi lightweight, it has multiple D rings. Thanks!

 

[Tigerpaw]

OP is from TX and has all kinda ahwl $$$ to burn!

rx7diver

Eh, no I'm not a tycoon. If anything I'll be taking these next few months to save up for whatever configuration.

 

[happy-diver]

Put it there leave it there go anywhere

You see if I were to leave it at that, the people are more likely to ruminate on what they know nothing about

Sling! Shming!

Oh yeah did you hear about a tank on the back and a tank on the front, now that sounds like a fantastic idea

 

[Wibble]

After years of experience and experimentation I'm of the opinion a bungee isn't necessary, and fixing the basics is the place to start. You're bascially proving my point with your photos.

What you're showing me in the first photos are that that person's harness and rigging is absolutely nowhere near correctly setup. Sure, throw a bungee on it and problem solved. I agree it works and it does work well. But it is far from necessary and is potentially masking the underlying problem. There are several things that could be done to fix what's in the before photos.

You're completely correct and we're in no way different.

This is the Solo Diving forum. In here people should know how to rig stages and will be familiar with bringing redundant gas supplies.

I was trying to show how (heavy) cylinders dangle when they're clipped on using the bog-standard clipping method, to the chest D-ring and the LH waist D-ring. It's me in both pics.

With a dangly stage, especially a decompression stage with 50% or 80% oxygen, the stage will do a pendulum trick: as you fin forwards it moves back, absorbing some of your finning energy, then it swings forwards effectively pushing you backwards. The worst thing with a dangly stage is if it's got some helium in the mix for a bottom stage or it is empty, the base of the stage points up to the sky; dangerous in overheads.

Fixing a dangly stage can be tricky as, by definition, your stage clips act like levers if they're both pointing up. Adjusting the length of the stage rigging kit can help, but then it can be a real pig to clip the stage on and off. Bungees prevent this by putting some tension on the lower clip, keeping the bottom of the stage in check and ensuring it doesn't pendulum nor stick upwards.

Bungees need a bit of messing around with to adjust correctly. Too little tension means the stage moves around too much. If the bungee's too tight then it's a pig to pull on and it's uncomfortable.



My personal usage of bungees has evolved over the years. I've no idea of other people's bungee implementations, this is Solo diving!

I use two chest D-rings on the harness, one in the "normal" above the nipple-level position (used for clipping stuff on and off; torches, double enders, etc.) and another D-ring a couple of inches below that which is used for clipping stage nose clips on. This allows more space for the stage to move under my armpit with the clip in situ.

Aside: you need nose clips on stages to move the things around, such as carrying them. Wearing your harness, lean forwards and clip the stage on. Then stand up. Sidemount with no nose clip is a right pain to walk around with the stages on.

I clip the bottom stage clip to my waist belt with a sidewards-pointing D-ring, which moves the clipping point to your hip, not waist.

The bungees are left unclipped on the boat before jumping, or walking into water. Once in (generally when down the shot line), I'll check everything over and hook on the bungees, pushing the stages back under my armpits.

When ascending to the boat, I'll unclip the bungees before the final ascent so the stages dangle forwards again. This makes it much easier if anyone's kind enough to remove your stages when you get back on the boat.

One day I'll take some photos of this whole thing! I did describe it in the rebreather section:

rEvo modifications, tweaks and customisations

Sidemounting Bailouts With the modifications to the harness a pair of sidemount bungee loops were added. Alternative sidemounting methods include the Dive Rite bungee + ring system plus many others. The point of this is to get the bailouts under control so they're pulled back under the...

scubaboard.com

 

[Wibble]

Put it there leave it there go anywhere

View attachment 783111

You see if I were to leave it at that, the people are more likely to ruminate on what they know nothing about

Sling! Shming!

Oh yeah did you hear about a tank on the back and a tank on the front, now that sounds like a fantastic idea

Lovely.

1. Do you have the hose pre-rigged, e.g. longhose or bungeed necklace?
2. Do you have a PONY SPG available for you to read when using it?

If yes, then excellent.

If no, then how often do you practice using it -- as when the SHTF your "chimp" brain takes over and it won't remember where the spare gas is, it'll simply want to shoot to the surface. Chimp brain needs lots of training!

 

[Wibble]

Have updated the post to add a zoomed pic of the dangly stage.

Recommendations for pony bottle/regulator set up for solo diving

Any jacket style BC... Hmm. Yeah I sort of figured side mount. Like those harnesses you put on dogs so you don’t choke em if you break to hard. Well, each to their own I guess.

scubaboard.com

 

[Marie13]

I have a Cressi lightweight, it has multiple D rings. Thanks!

That doesn’t mean it has D rings in the proper places to sling a larger pony.

 

[plaamook]

That doesn’t mean it has D rings in the proper places to sling a larger pony.

I dont know why this turned up as my quote because I don’t have a cressi stab but I’ll reply anyway as it’s relevant.

If you have shoulder D rings on anything you can sling a bailout. If there isn’t a lower back D ring you can put a D ring on a cam band and attach it to the lower part of your main back cylinder. It ends up in about the same spot as are found on the wings I’ve used.
I haven’t tried this w a 3L. They’re a bit short and honestly I don’t see why you don’t just strap a 3 to your back cylinder. I have done it w a 7L.
That said, I’ve also twinned a 12 and a 7 independently. It’s a bit loo sided but I didn’t find it a problem. Did quite a few dives that way.
I don’t really understand why anyone would sling anything if they didn’t HAVE to. Way better just getting all that crap out of your way and on your back.

 

[plaamook]

I mean…if you can’t justify spending money on ‘proper’ gear, get creative. Sow a D ring onto something. There’s usually a hack for most of this stuff.

I once heard of using beer cans as spacers for strapping up indi twins. I keep that one in my pocket for emergencies.

 

[johndiver999]

I mean…if you can’t justify spending money on ‘proper’ gear, get creative. Sow a D ring onto something. There’s usually a hack for most of this stuff.

I once heard of using beer cans as spacers for strapping up indi twins. I keep that one in my pocket for emergencies.

yes that works, and if you select Bud Light cans, you can transition between different tanks very fast.