Spare Air or Pony?

[jonnythan]

richies, www.boatertalk.com is a great board if you want to solicit kayaker opinions on things

 

[ebbtide]

pony for me only thanx .
i like to be comfortable with having enuf air on an emergency witch is y it is to be used anyway beside ya shuldent run yer tanks dry of air anyway its not good on them if ya wanna take care of yer gear .

 

[Rooster1]

First of all to echo some of what has already been said, nothing subsitutes proper dive planning and air management. Any alternate air source should be for a real emergency and not for the sense of safety to go beyond your dive plan.
However if it is to be used for an emergency, lets be serious the solution is simple. In an emergency there is no such thing as too much air and spare air is not even realistic. I know one could say that having a breath at 110 fsw is better then nothing, I guess so is a teaspoon of water while crossing the dessert. If you are serious about emergency back up go with a good size pony bottle. I reccomend at least a 30 cf, or like DockvVikingo said, go with independent twins. I have read on the performance of spare air and it got a huge failing grade. I guess if you are going to stay within 30 feet of the surface you would be ok. To quote one of the best diver/instructors I know...." spare air gives you enough air to take a breath, bend over and look between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye" end quote.

 

[swsurgeon]

One of my canoeing/kayaking friends lives in the Boulder, CO area. A few years ago he was kayaking with some local buddies and one became trapped in submerged deadfall. He drowned only a couple feet below the surface while they were trying to extricate him from his boat and the branches. My friend added a SA to his PFD and supplemented his knife with a heavy duty rescue saw. A really sad story but maybe the equipment upgrades will help prevent a future tragedy.

 

[Rooster1]

Originally posted by swsurgeon
One of my canoeing/kayaking friends lives in the Boulder, CO area. A few years ago he was kayaking with some local buddies and one became trapped in submerged deadfall. He drowned only a couple feet below the surface while they were trying to extricate him from his boat and the branches. My friend added a SA to his PFD and supplemented his knife with a heavy duty rescue saw. A really sad story but maybe the equipment upgrades will help prevent a future tragedy.

Sorry about your friend, May God give his soul peace.

 

[swsurgeon]

Thanks for the condolences Rooster. I used to run the heavy stuff (like the Grand Canyon), but I've become more conservative with age. Serious whitewater has its risks and it is difficult to control all of them.

 

[Ron Brandt]

THe DocV BC REbreather does work and well.

Consider what the DIR folkes do. 5-7 foot hose coming up your chest around your neck and reg in your mouth (7 ft rig) The alternate or in fact really the primary on a bungy around your neck.

Now take a 40al and clip it to your left side d ring . Rig with 6 in. spg hose and 48 in. reg hose.

Works well.

The al40 should give you enough air to save your butt.


Ron

 

[Hetland]

Here are some myths:

there are paltry few situations where a reg can fail closed. Those situations, like ice diving, require real training and real equipment. The SpareAir has no place in such diving. If your HP SPG hose fails, you have a slow leak. If your tank O-ring bursts, or your first-stage HP seat fails, you will have a moderate leak. You will certainly have MUCH MORE than 3 breaths left in your primary, unless you were already run dry. Once again, anyone who lets himself go dry to begin with is waiting to kill himself. Anyone who worries about a HP seat failing after having already run dry really needs to think some more. The only conceivable way the gas supply could be completely interrupted would be to have a yoke reg literally popped completely off of the valve. This would require Herculean effort and inordinate stupidity to accomplish. It isn't a reasonable failure mode.

Believing (or pretending) that your gear can't fail is just as dangerous as using gear that's inadequate in the first place, perhaps more. If I know the gear is not adequate, I am at least mentally prepared for it's failure.

There are at least two ways that your reg can fail closed:

1. your stem gets blocked in the tank
2. the main spring in your 1st stage fails

The possibility of either of those things happening can be reduced, but you are not having your springs examined by a metallurgist regularly, and I'm sure you have never dove a rental tank, or let someone else do your tank inspections (usually done by those lower on the totem pole in dive shops both good and bad) You're in for quite a surprise if either of these things happen to you at depth.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

No offense, but if your question is serious and you don't know the answer, you are NOT ready to dive solo.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

If your tank O-ring bursts, or your first-stage HP seat fails, you will have a moderate leak.

Warren, While I wholeheartedly second all the things you said, I beg to differ on this one. Anyone who has ever seen an o-ring burst would not call the resulting explosion of bubbles you will find yourself surrounded with a "moderate leak." As you probably know, a FULL Aluminum 80 tank at 3000 psi will drain in about a minute that way. Should that happen at 130 feet, that's gonna be a darn short minute.