Recreational Pony Bottles, completely unnecessary? Why or why not?

[grf88]

Not everybody takes their dive buddies on vacation, the wife would likely object. I am a member of a dive club and frequently dive with new divers and we have very few dives under 30 ft. I also have trusted buddies that I will dive up to 150 ft. but still carry redundancy.

 

[Nemrod]

I didn't bother to reply to that post. I am sure if a driver had a pony in the trunk of his car and still had a crash he would want to blame it on the pony.

Damn, now I know who to blame. I was cruising along minding my business in my cute little car last Saturday with my freshly hydroed and VIPed pony in my trunk and then whamo, a woman runs a stop sign, no, two stop signs as big as Dallas, and I get an airbag in the face. Damn, I better call my attorney right now! We got the perp all wrong, it was that dang pony bottle! I knew something was not right! Damn pony bottles---. Never again will I drive with a pony bottle for sure!

N

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

For redundancy you don’t need 3 tanks. Why don’t you start and breath down with the stage to a certain pressure and then start using your single tank/backgas ?

Or just use doubles instead of 3 tanks. If I would use doubles/sidemount for a cave dive I don’t need a third tank for redundancy.

I do not own doubles, or a BP/W. I have steel 100hp tanks and a bcd for single tank. My pony I sling, and the stage btl I had borrowed off one of my Kool-Aid drinking GUE dive buddies.

 

[Bigbella]

Wow -- now four hundred and fifty six entries, on, what, pony bottles?

 

[Gone for diving]

Yeah this thread is getting stupid.

I think I am going to dive my pony bottles instead..

 

[grf88]

Wow -- now four hundred and fifty six entries, on, what, pony bottles?

This is a pony thread and is just starting to reach a canter. Wait till it gets to a gallop.

 

[BoltSnap]

Yeah, enough talk about pony bottles, it is time to start a thread about using snorkels while scuba diving. Can somebody do it please? Let's make it go longer than 458 replies!!!

 

[grf88]

Yeah, enough talk about pony bottles, it is time to start a thread about using snorkels while scuba diving. Can somebody do it please? Let's make it go longer than 458 replies!!!

People have been known to descend on their snorkels instead of a first stage. Obviously they are dangerous and should not be used.

 

[Blackcrusader]

By any definition a dive to 126' with deco is a technical dive. As you go deeper, your recreational dive may turn into a technical dive and even a small pony bottle may not help, especially if everyone's SAC rate is elevated due to stress/task loading.

When I did BSAC sports diving courses all dives were planned deco dives on air. Max depth 50m. Yes things have changed.
However a dive to 120 feet is quite normal in Asia and is considered recreational diving. If on air just need to monitor NDL as you may only have 15 minutes max before exceeding NDL. I do not agree that a 120 foot dive is a technical dive. It's normal and within recreational diving for most agencies which have recreational limits of 130 feet or 40m.

 

[Blackcrusader]

An earlier post suggested a tech dive is only a tech dive if deco is planned. A rec dive going into unplanned deco remains a bungled rec dive by that definition. I would say that if the likelihood of a dive ending up as a deco dive is significant, it should have been planned as a tech dive from the beginning, i.e., allowing for the contingency of a small amount of deco. When your team feels they're done with the dive and everything has gone smoothly, maybe it could still be referred to as a "tech dive" at that moment because you planned in some contingency deco and ended the dive "early." Perhaps that is what @jadairiii is saying? In other words, if the dive plan looks like it could be on the cusp of needing some deco, plan it as a proper deco dive rather than a rec dive with a pony--just include in the plan that the team will likely end the dive "early."

Yet many of the forum members admit that they go on recreational dives and sometimes go into "light deco" of a few minutes on a single tank. They did not plan for deco but did so knowingly what their air usage is. Often these few minutes of deco are cleared on a multi level dive before the safety stop ( at least on my shearwater )