What size tank for a pony??

[knowone]

If you have some nice deep wrecks and are seriously going to sling it. Faber lp steel 40.

 

[tomboyy]

I already have the Regs, all I need is the tank its self. If I wasn't confident in my skills I wouldn't be purchasing the pony. I think I am going to go with the 30 cuft for now and when I am ready to upgrade to a deco bottle I will just buy another tank and pass the 30 down to my wife.

Good choice... if you search abit you'll find where you can make your own sling (maybe dir ) ? my ponys is in my pics you can see it there

 

[Colliam7]

But seriously I am going to sling it, I plan to use it mainly as redundancy but in the future I might want to use it for a deco bottle. ...

Then it is a 40. No reason to consider something else.

I think I am going to go with the 30 cuft for now and when I am ready to upgrade to a deco bottle I will just buy another tank and pass the 30 down to my wife.

Yes, you could use a 30 - but why? The acquisition cost for a new bottle is equivalent for a 30 vs a 40. You won't find a lot of difference in the buoyancy characteristics of a 30 vs a 40. Nor, will the effect on trim be discernible. But, the 40 will make a difference in deco planning on some dives, so why not go with it now? I have two 30s (bought used) and two 40s (1 new and 1 used). I prefer the 40s. Hmm. Maybe, I should sell you one of my 30s, so I can get another 40. BTW, you could also use an 80. As a pony it is a bit big, though.

 

[halocline]

I already have the Regs, all I need is the tank its self. If I wasn't confident in my skills I wouldn't be purchasing the pony. I think I am going to go with the 30 cuft for now and when I am ready to upgrade to a deco bottle I will just buy another tank and pass the 30 down to my wife.

Carrying around a 30 cft bottle as a bailout on single tank recreational dives is really overkill, and IMO not such a good idea. This is especially true because your posts indicate you're already pushing the limits of recreational diving. Carrying an oversized bailout bottle could be an invitation to push them more, and that's riskier regardless of how big your bailout bottle is.

If you want to dive deep wrecks start training for it now; that would include deco training and using doubles. You won't regret it.

If you're stuck on getting a pony as opposed to a stage/deco bottle, keep it small and treat it for what it is; an emergency bailout in the event of regulator/tank valve failure while in no-deco, safe depth recreational diving ONLY.

There's a not-great-but-sort-of-relevant analogy to bottled O2 on high mountain climbs. It's thought that forbidding supplemental O2 bottles in places like Mt Everest will actually make climbing the mountain safer, simply because fewer climbers, especially less trained ones, will get as high on the mountain, thus placing themselves in greater danger. This is counter intuitive because at those altitudes bottled O2 can save someone's life who's in trouble.

I could be wrong, but the sound of your posts makes me think you're wanting this bottle because you feel it will increase your range of safe diving environments. It won't. Only more training and better dive skills, especially better team diving skills, will do that.

 

[tomboyy]

I am currently diving to 80ft at least once a week. I live about 30 minutes from Lake Michigan so deep wreck diving isn't to far off... I am not planning on packing this tank for trips.



No kelp in Michigan but we have some nice deep wrecks! But seriously I am going to sling it, I plan to use it mainly as redundancy but in the future I might want to use it for a deco bottle.

Carrying around a 30 cft bottle as a bailout on single tank recreational dives is really overkill,no its not and IMO not such a good idea. This is especially true because your posts indicate you're already pushing the limits of recreational diving. Carrying an oversized bailout bottle could be an invitation to push them more, and that's riskier regardless of how big your bailout bottle is.

If you want to dive deep wrecks start training for it now; that would include deco training and using doubles. You won't regret it.

If you're stuck on getting a pony as opposed to a stage/deco bottle, keep it small and treat it for what it is; an emergency bailout in the event of regulator/tank valve failure while in no-deco, safe depth recreational diving ONLY. are you sugessting he carry a spare air?
There's a not-great-but-sort-of-relevant analogy to bottled O2 on high mountain climbs. It's thought that forbidding supplemental O2 bottles in places like Mt Everest will actually make climbing the mountain safer, simply because fewer climbers, especially less trained ones, will get as high on the mountain, thus placing themselves in greater danger. This is counter intuitive because at those altitudes bottled O2 can save someone's life who's in trouble.

I could be wrong, but the sound of your posts makes me think you're wanting this bottle because you feel it will increase your range of safe diving environments. It won't. Only more training and better dive skills, especially better team diving skills, will do that.

If you look at the OP's red highlighted sentence you'll see he wants it for redundancy.

 

[halocline]

I would not suggest to anyone at any time to use a spare air. In a previous post I suggested a 19cft pony is the largest a recreational diver should 'need.'

It makes no sense to me to dive a single tank that is around 100 cft and feel the need to carry close to 1/3 of that for emergency use. Different strokes, I guess.

 

[a22shady]

I don't think your size has anything to do with it. I am only 5'9 155 and my G/F little shorter and lighter we both use a Luxfer 40'. It has great buyoncy characteristics and lays real nice in the water. The size should be determined on your dives and what you may need. I know with a 40 I can safely make a normal ascent from any depth as a Recreational diver that I would be at inclusing doing my safety stop. If you were going to buy one I absolutly recomend the Luxfer 40

 

[Scoobers]

I went diving today and my buddy has a 40 so he let me carry it slung on my right hand side. I think I am going to just buy the 40 so I can use it down the road when I start doing more complicated dives. I barely noticed it hanging there so I see no reason to not go with that size. As for the people who say I am pushing the limits of recreational diving I don't really see how... I am not diving below 130' and I am not doing deco diving. As for my experience I am averaging 5 or more dives a week right now, my profile on here is probably not accurate as I don't ever update it. For the people saying they see no reason to carry a pony I disagree because I am not willing to just "chance" it. My gear is serviced every year as it should be and I am also diving with a Aqualung Legend LX Supreme which is a very nice reg that I DO trust my life to but things can and do go wrong.

 

[Dr Wu]

For the people saying they see no reason to carry a pony I disagree because I am not willing to just "chance" it.

Everyone says that.

Diving without a pony is not "chancing" it. It will give you the opportunity to develop proper skills rather than rely on a piece of equipment that has no real value for the dives you are doing.

 

[halocline]

Buying a 40 to use in future deco diving is probably a good idea, you'll get more eventual use out of it. The reason that people say pony tanks are not needed in recreational diving is because if you are diving safely, meaning always maintaining a reserve and diving with a reliable buddy, you should never be in the situation where you need an extra air source, except I guess, in the extremely rare theoretical simultaneous reg failure scenario. And PLENTY of casual divers use pony tanks as a license to dive in a more aggressive, semi-solo way without really considering the additional risks apart from reg failure. I'm not suggesting that you're going to do that, but it usually comes up on these threads because it is pretty common.

I have on occasion used a 13 cft pony on a liveaboard, where the dive profiles are fairly deep and with multiple dives/day, I would want to always be able to take extra time to surface even in the event of an emergency. I think of it as a convenience, not really a safety device.

Looking back over your posts, I have to retract my earlier statement about your posts indicating that you wanted to increase your range with the pony...that was more other posters talking about deeper wreck diving. Have fun with your new stage bottle. You can almost certainly find one used, they pop up all the time.