What's in your pony?

[Randy g]

Thank you for your responses. :cool2:

When I purchased the pony a few months back, I had air put into it. Not knowing exactly what my dive depths would be on our 2010 new years dive trip to florida. I wanted to be safe instead of sorry, incase it was used.

First impressions diving with a pony? Big, bulky and in the way but mentally I feel alot better diving with it, than without it. It's a give and take I guess.

 

[EvaL]

Air. I use my pony for emergencies, so the same gas mix is in there for a few months at a time. I'd hate to have to fill it with different nitrox mixes for every dive (different depth). Doesn't make sense to me to fill it with nitrox unless I restrict my dives to the limits of the pony's nitrox mix.

 

[Puffer Fish]

how about the entanglement that caused someone to run low on air and go for the pony in the first place?

or the free flowing reg or burst hose spewing bubbles & confusion everywhere?

if you think you will be instantaneously heading up you haven't encountered these kinds of issues yet - they take longer than you'd expect to resolve even though everyone "rushes" like mad to resolve the problem faster (which paradoxically makes it take longer to address)

Interesting view points:

Earlier, we had this comment:

"The idea that bailing out to air from a nitrox backgas and making an immediate ascent is somehow going to lead to DCS issues is rather laughable."

Here is how the first scenario would play out for me, given where I normally dive and using what I current use:

1st dive is to roughly 100 ft, using a 117 cf tank (with a pony)..somehow I get entangled.. really, really entangled, and my buddy leaves, or I'm lost or something.

My SAC rate is around .6 (higher at the start of the dive, lower later... but will use my average)... so I will run out of air at approximately (will use 110 cubic ft) at roughly 46 minutes...then switch to my pony, and take half the gas to resolve the issue... or another 6 minutes... now, all I have to do is surface....

Lets suppose my tank was on 32% and my pony on air...I now need how many minutes of deco?

Doing a quick check, one has around 50 of deco obligation...

Change that to 36%, and you have around 30 minutes...

Ok, but both of those you will most likely get bent, as that last half of a tank would only last me around 15 minutes... but of the two, I would choose the 36% option.

Reality is, I would go up with lots of gas at 20 minutes.. and if at exactly that point, I got intangled and my hose got ripped out so I had to use my pony.. and then took the same 6 minutes to get untangled... then... with 36%, I need 9 minutes of gas to safely surface... but with air, I need 20, which I don't have.

Note: Calculations are from decochek.. other programs may differ.

However, I don't honestly believe that would happen. What I do believe is that in a real emergency, it is possible one would need to surface quicker than one would like and higher O2 makes that safer.

 

[Buoyant1]

29% Nitrox....since most of my diving is in a quarry that bottoms out at 120, I can bail out from anywhere if necessary!

 

[DaleC]

I dive independant twins.
In one I have air, in the other I have trimix.
I use the air to ascend and descend and the trimix on the bottom.
In my pony I have 100% O2 for offgassing above 25'.
It's the perfect techreational set up!








Just kidding... it's plain old boring air for me

 

[idocsteve]

I dive independant twins.

I never heard that term before and before I read further into your post I was about to send you a pm about your inappropriate post. And then I would ask for their phone numbers.

Never mind

 

[DaleC]

I like the way you think sir!

 

[RJP]

First impressions diving with a pony? Big, bulky and in the way...

What size? Try slinging it...

 

[Stoy D Dabbs]

I have 19 cf, 30 cf, and 40 cf Pony's, witch I slinging, since I dive with BP/W setups.
On my 19 cf I have air, when I dive with single tank setup for redundancy down to 60 feet deep.
On my 40 cf I have EAN 40 for offgasing when I am diving with double tank's setup.

 

[Randy g]

What size? Try slinging it...

40 and it is on a sling. Never having used one before, I guess I just have to get used to it.:cool2: