Reg configuration for pony bottle

[AfterDark]

So you go out and do a two tank dive and you 'need' your pony for the first deep dive. Then, the second dive is a 20ft shallow reef dive. Are you telling me that you're going take the pony on that second dive?! Embarrassing...

Depth doesn't determine whether I sling a bottle, the pony is for my buddy. If he/she can't get to the surface in 20fsw w/o a octo/pony, I'm probably not diving with that person anyway. A free ascent from 20fsw would be a practice drill for me oh-hum. When I dive with divers trained in buddy breathing I leave the pony in my car. With buddy breathing a octo or a pony becomes non-essential gear.

I'm thinking about teaching my dive buddies that are untrained in buddy breathing the skill so we can all leave the BS octo and ponies home when we dive together!

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

If you choose to leave the pony bottle home, you have the option of screwing in your octo to the first stage. If you decide to take the bottle on a dive you have the option of unscrewing the octo. These modifications may not be convenient on the boat between dives but prior to leaving on a day trip it is possible to modify the set up. Whether it is recommended? I dont know.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Depth doesn't determine whether I sling a bottle, the pony is for my buddy. If he/she can't get to the surface in 20fsw w/o a octo/pony, I'm probably not diving with that person anyway. A free ascent from 20fsw would be a practice drill for me oh-hum. When I dive with divers trained in buddy breathing I leave the pony in my car. With buddy breathing a octo or a pony becomes non-essential gear.

I'm thinking about teaching my dive buddies that are untrained in buddy breathing the skill so we can all leave the BS octo and ponies home when we dive together!

Dude, who are you diving with that can't buddy breathe or ascend from 20ft?! If that's the case, make HIM carry the bottle.

Otherwise, guys that carry pony bottles on 20ft reef dives just look like wannabes. And, I know you don't want to be one of those...

 

[AfterDark]

Dude, who are you diving with that can't buddy breathe or ascend from 20ft?! If that's the case, make HIM carry the bottle.

Otherwise, guys that carry pony bottles on 20ft reef dives just look like wannabes. And, I know you don't want to be one of those...

Dude learn how to read, I don't dive with people how can't CESA from 20FSW. Who gets trained in buddy breathing these days? Buddy breathing for OW diving hasn't been taught in years, it has been replaced by the octo reg. Older guys like myself were trained in that skill. Back when double hose regs were used we had no octos, 2 divers needed to be able to share air from one regulator. Apparently that is too much to teach divers with a single hose reg these days.

A wannbe what? See me after you've been diving a few decades. What makes you think I give a F about what someone may think of me anyway?

 

[victorzamora]

So here's my argument for three second stages: Pony bottles should me minimal work and minimally intrusive or you'll stop carrying them. I rig pony bottles just like I do stage or deco bottles. They get slung/sidemounted, they get their second stage clipped to the clip on the neck clip. The hose gets stowed in a bungee. That way there's less hose routing. I put on my main tank(s) and clip the pony off.....then I ignore it. When I end the dive, I unclip it and then proceed as normal. It's the only way I can keep convincing myself to take it on every dive.

So, when your buddy goes OOA you shouldn't be fooling with a pony. You should fall back on the exact same protocols you follow on every dive......donate your octo. I keep that on a longhose in my mouth, and that's true for ALL of my diving. My personal backup is on a bungee around my neck. That is also true for all of my diving. So when my buddy goes OOA, I shove my longhose reg in his face. Once he's breathing, calm, and collected....I unfurl some of the longhose, unclip my pony, and hand it off (give him reg first, then hand him tank). I get my longhose back, and we do an independent ascent. We each have our own air sources. I didn't have to kill either of us by switching to a pony. I also didn't have to risk buddy breathing, because most people that go OOA go full panic for some time and refuse to give it up. There are plenty of stories of OOA divers biting through mouthpieces or tearing them when the donating buddy (now OOA himself, with without a bungeed octo or no octo at all) tries to get air for him/herself.

I have very little love for backmounted ponies as they're harder for me to deal with (practice might fix that, but I've always found that much weight on my camband makes it miserable to deal with) in terms of mounting/unmounting and switching tanks......especially on a dive boat. The most important factor for me is that a pony behind me puts the bubbles all and any other possible failure point and failure indicator behind me, where I have to rely on a buddy. I don't trust anyone with my life.