Slinging Pony Bottle from Scubapro Hydros Pro BC

[Rick Vigil]

Any Scubapro Hydros Pro BC owners out there who have slung a 19-30cf pony bottle for bail out?

If so:

1. Assuming you use the shoulder D-ring, do you use the waist D-ring at the bottom of the weight pocket, or the one just above? Or have you added an additional D-ring onto the waist belt just behind the weight pocket?
2. Does the pony bottle get in the way of dumping the weights from the weight pocket?
3. Does the BC harness seem strong enough to routinely carry the pony bottle during 50 yd walks to and from the beach?

Thanks in advance.

 

[scubadada]

I have no experience with the Hydros but have been diving a 19 cf pony on my Knighthawk for many years. I use the left low D-ring and the left shoulder D-ring, works perfectly. Seems very durable, no reason to think the Hydros would be any less so (except for their early production problems)

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If you are going to be walking any distance with a 30 cu-ft pony bottle, you may well find that one of the significant benefits of a slung bottle is that you can hand carry it, rather than have in banging around as you walk. I have clipped off small bottles to scuba Pro BC's in the past with no problems.

You probably just need to try the gear on and see what configuration makes the most sense, You can also cheat (or customize) a little, by adjusting the location of the lower hose clamp/clip on the pony bottle so that it is perfectly compatible with whatever lower ring you eventually select for attachment. In short, you should be able to make something work.

I would be more concerned with making sure that ditching of lead is not compromised by the stage bottle.

 

[Jafo19D]

When I did my deep diver course the instructor had me sling a bottle (I think it was a AL80 or at least something really close like a 72) instead of having a bottle hanging off the boat. I slung it off my hydros pro off the left shoulder Dring and the one above the weight pocket. No issues at all.

 

[mje113]

I just recently did my drysuit checkout dives and wanted to double up with some experience slinging a pony as it'll be a requirement for some dives I'm doing later this summer. I did NOT enjoy slinging it on my subpro hydros pro.

A DM in training helped me sling it, we went top left shoulder d-ring, then the middle one that connects the shoulder strap to belt, so above the integrated weight pocket. When I entered the water I was a bit overweighted and hit the 20' bottom quickly and unexpectedly (only 2-3' of vis)--basically landed on my butt. I don't know exactly what happened but it ended up getting all twisted up with the weight pocket and became a pain trying to handle it for the rest of the dive.

It convinced me it's not a very good setup--maybe it would have been different if it was slung onto the bottom d-ring under the weight pocket but still seems like that hard-molded thing will always get in the way. It's convinced me to either switch to the travel harness, or ditch the BC entirely and switch to BP/W. In fact I just got a new-to-me DSS BP/W that I'm excited to check out!