Spare air

[NudeDiver]

Well, mercury disrupts the oxide layer, greatly accelerating the progressive oxidation of the aluminum, but I haven't heard of any thermometer-wielding terrorists attacking pony-bearing traveling scuba divers. :biggrin:

That's because the pony-bearing traveling scuba diver would whack the thermometer-wielding terrorist upside the head with the pony long before the thermometer-wielding terrorist could insert his thermometer in the pony-bearing traveling scuba diver - and that would be the end of that. Point to the pony-bearing traveling scuba diver.

 

[RJP]

The spare air has one good use...

Don't forget the other thing it's good for:

It's the only thing you can carry that lets you run out of air TWICE on the same dive!

 

[belgianbrew]

I was told straight off the bat in my open water class that spare air wasn't even an option, and that 20 or 30 cf ponies were the only extra air source one should carry. I'm starting to dive with a slung 30 regardless of where, or what depth. I think all this spare air stuff is a result of demographics, and lifestyle marketing.

 

[Dtaine]

If after reading this thread anyone's still thinking about getting a Spare air consider that it's not necessarily going to be you that needs the extra air. I know what your thinking, just hand off your spare air and get it back when you surface. But the problem with doing that is now you've given away your backup air supply. If you continue a dive after somebody's taken your spare air and you run into a problem, then you're out of luck. Sure, the chances of two people on the same dive running out of air are pretty low, but if you're carrying an extra air source I'd think you would want it to be one nobody else can steal underwater.

Even if it's just your buddy taking your spare air if you're starting to run out as well (which given a similar profile to your buddy's isn't that far fetched) ask yourself this. Would you be better off with a pony, or trying to buddy breathe a spare air canister? I think the answer's pretty obvious there.

 

[widget]

I have nothing against Spare Air, I think its all about your own comfort zone.

If you only potter around at 50 or 60 ft and it makes you feel a bit more comfortable - get one - I mean Why not?

If you are doing double tank dives to 150ft regularly, well, you need a pony at the very least, but these are two totally differant animals, Spare Air is really designed for the open water, no deco, recreational diver who just wants a little extra safety factor, and it serves this purpose very well, I think.

So, the question "Do you NEED it?" - as a recreational diver at 60ft,........ probably not, but you could also argue then that you probably dont "Need" a knife, a tank banger, a slate, torch or any redundancy pottering around at 60ft - they are all "nice to haves" but in the end, if it improves your comfort level and ultimately your underwater experience, I say "go for it".!

 

[RJP]

If you are doing double tank dives to 150ft regularly, well, you need a pony at the very least...

Hmm...can you recommend a bracket to mount a pony bottle to a double'd set of HP steel 119's? Perhaps I should mount the pony to my 80cf stage bottle or maybe to the 40cf deco bottle?

Or is 360cf of gas enough "Spare Air" in the first place?

 

[WarrenZ]

Its only 360cf of spare air if you dont have a plan to use it after that its just your gas mix.

 

[widget]

Hmm...can you recommend a bracket to mount a pony bottle to a double'd set of HP steel 119's? Perhaps I should mount the pony to my 80cf stage bottle or maybe to the 40cf deco bottle?

Or is 360cf of gas enough "Spare Air" in the first place?

- I think its enough - but you can never be sure.!

 

[belgianbrew]

I think I actually saw a double set up with a pony on the u-869 NOVA, they mounted between the two cylinders.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

6 CF gets me around 3 minutes between 70 -50 ft, ascending a mooring line in 50 degree water. Enough to surface from 70ft? yeah. Not enough for a safety stop though.