How to rig a pony bottle?

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That's like saying you don't need seat belts and airbags because you are a good driver. There are external forces in this world, completely outside your control, that can f*#k you up big time. A pony is the airbag of diving singe tank, just as the manifold is for doubles.

Carrying a pony has nothing to do with poor dive planning and bad gas management; they are mutually exclusive. Carrying a pony didn't make your buddy have to go on your long hose, crap diving did.

Very few people on this board would recommend using a buddy line.


I think it is not a good idea for a beginner who has not exceed 35 feet to use a Pony tank.

A pony tank at singletank is not just as manifold for doubles.

- At doubles you don't have to switch regulator when you are using more gas than planned. (Only when you closed the valve of the regultor breathing from)

- At doubles regulators are always. pressurised. When you switch to a pony you open the valve, at that moment there can be a o-ring failure. When you dive with a pony tank and open valve it can be empty when you need is.

- When you dive doubles and your buddy is out of gas it is possible for both of you to use all the gas. That is not possible with a pony tank. Or at least you have to share a regulator when backgas is empty.
 
A blanket statement on a configuration he admits he has no personal experience with and very limited observation of its use. Worthless.


I did use a alu80 as ponytank but it was long ago and didn't make sense.

I did a lot of dives using single or double tank I never missed a ponytank.
 
I think it is not a good idea for a beginner who has not exceed 35 feet to use a Pony tank.

A pony tank at singletank is not just as manifold for doubles.

- At doubles you don't have to switch regulator when you are using more gas than planned. (Only when you closed the valve of the regultor breathing from)

- At doubles regulators are always. pressurised. When you switch to a pony you open the valve, at that moment there can be a o-ring failure. When you dive with a pony tank and open valve it can be empty when you need is.

- When you dive doubles and your buddy is out of gas it is possible for both of you to use all the gas. That is not possible with a pony tank. Or at least you have to share a regulator when backgas is empty.

I don't understand - are you saying that a new diver should't use a Pony tank because doubles are a better solution? Why are we even discussing doubles given the OP's question.

A pony tank is used in case of OOG -which is either from catastrophic equipment failure (unstoppable free flow, blown LP hose), or from lack of situational awareness. Yes, it is possible that you could have TWO failures back to back (gas loss, followed by pony tank o-ring failure), but in general we don't plan for multiple failures because then you would never get in the water.

Why would you be sharing a regulator if you were deploying a pony because your buddy is OOG. I don't understand the last scenario at all. An appropriately sized pony should be more than enough gas to get an OOG diver to the surface, including a safety stop, because we are talking about recreational diving with no virtual overhead, right?
 
I don't understand - are you saying that a new diver should't use a Pony tank because doubles are a better solution? Why are we even discussing doubles given the OP's question.

Because:

That's like saying you don't need seat belts and airbags because you are a good driver. There are external forces in this world, completely outside your control, that can f*#k you up big time. A pony is the airbag of diving singe tank, just as the manifold is for doubles.

Offcourse I think it is not a good idea for a beginner to use doubles.
(But I don't agree that "A pony is the airbag of diving singe tank, just as the manifold is for doubles."

A pony tank is used in case of OOG -which is either from catastrophic equipment failure (unstoppable free flow, blown LP hose), or from lack of situational awareness. Yes, it is possible that you could have TWO failures back to back (gas loss, followed by pony tank o-ring failure), but in general we don't plan for multiple failures because then you would never get in the water.

Why would you be sharing a regulator if you were deploying a pony because your buddy is OOG. I don't understand the last scenario at all. An appropriately sized pony should be more than enough gas to get an OOG diver to the surface, including a safety stop, because we are talking about recreational diving with no virtual overhead, right?

I you have an failure and loose all your gas, use your buddy his gas . When you both had a good gas planning this is no problem. The failure should not be a problem.

The only problem is when you had lack of awareness, than your buddy may to far away. You can try to solve that by adding a pony tank. But would't it better to have a better awareness ?

I realy don't understand why people are telling a beginner open water with less than 25 dives (?) en who has not exceed 35 feet op depth to buy a pony tank.
 
We were all taught how to switch regs underwater since OW. If a diver can not switch regs they shouldn't be diving. The skill required to carry a pony bottle is minimal, the fact the op is continuing to dive under the watch of an instructor right now would be the best opportunity for him to learn this new skill. Most people self teach carrying a pony.
 
I you have an failure and loose all your gas, use your buddy his gas . When you both had a good gas planning this is no problem. The failure should not be a problem.

The only problem is when you had lack of awareness, than your buddy may to far away. You can try to solve that by adding a pony tank. But would't it better to have a better awareness ?

Sorry, while OOG and buddy separation are both potentially "awareness" issues, they are not the same thing. I don't know about you, but I have had occasional buddy separation episodes. It happens, and I am a firm believer in each diver being self reliant. Despite many prominent divers teaching otherwise, I personally don't believe that anyone's life should depend on the buddy system.
 
Sorry, while OOG and buddy separation are both potentially "awareness" issues, they are not the same thing. I don't know about you, but I have had occasional buddy separation episodes. It happens, and I am a firm believer in each diver being self reliant. Despite many prominent divers teaching otherwise, I personally don't believe that anyone's life should depend on the buddy system.

Mike, you make a great point. Most of my diving is fishing and I try to push buddy diving on those who I dive with despite resistance and most of them wanting to solo dive, but it's hardly what the book says. I've quickly learned the way scuba diving is taught is flawed. There's too much emphasis on relying on your buddy, when there should be more emphasis on self reliance.

Every time I splash I have the mind set that it's a solo dive whether I'm alone or not. I will try to be the best support diver I can when diving with someone, but if I have a problem, I'm looking to myself to solve that problem before I look to someone else.

Edit: I will say sharks make people better buddy divers. If you want your buddy to stick to you like glue, dive with sharks. Lol
 
Despite drills and training you really never know how a buddy will react in a real emergency and that is usually not a good time to find out.
 
Mike, you make a great point. Most of my diving is fishing and I try to push buddy diving on those who I dive with despite resistance and most of them wanting to solo dive, but it's hardly what the book says. I've quickly learned the way scuba diving is taught is flawed. There's too much emphasis on relying on your buddy, when there should be more emphasis on self reliance.

Every time I splash I have the mind set that it's a solo dive whether I'm alone or not. I will try to be the best support diver I can when diving with someone, but if I have a problem, I'm looking to myself to solve that problem before I look to someone else.

Edit: I will say sharks make people better buddy divers. If you want your buddy to stick to you like glue, dive with sharks. Lol
Im on board with this theory. I inherently have a slight distrust in human nature. I dont think that any buddy I have or ever will have will truly care about my situation under water as much as they care about their own. Its just the human nature of selfishness. I want to make sure that I am 110% prepared if that means I carry two dive knifes, a light when its not dark, a pony tank or whatever else I can to be prepared. I do this on land (batteries and flashlights and water for a power outage, a bag ready to go in case we have to evacuate, and escape plan and defense plan for everything) so i figure why not do it under water. :)
 
I think it is not a good idea for a beginner who has not exceed 35 feet to use a Pony tank.

A pony tank at singletank is not just as manifold for doubles.

- At doubles you don't have to switch regulator when you are using more gas than planned. (Only when you closed the valve of the regultor breathing from)

- At doubles regulators are always. pressurised. When you switch to a pony you open the valve, at that moment there can be a o-ring failure. When you dive with a pony tank and open valve it can be empty when you need is.

- When you dive doubles and your buddy is out of gas it is possible for both of you to use all the gas. That is not possible with a pony tank. Or at least you have to share a regulator when backgas is empty.

No, it is like sidemounted doubles where one does switch regs. Or independent doubles where one also switches regs.

Turn the pony reg on at the beginning of the dives.

N
 
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