Pony Tank

[Soggy]

If you bash someone's idea. The least you can do is expound on why, in your opinion, it is a bad idea.

Sorry, it was one of those things that I thought was so incredibly obvious, it didn't need explanation. Why would you *remove* your backup reg and put it on the pony bottle? The octo is there for a number of reasons...it is your immediate backup source in case of a problem. The only reason to switch to a pony bottle is if you completely run out of gas and you are diving by yourself. To put the octo on the pony, firstly reduces the utility and redundancy of it, and secondly brings the pony closer into part of the dive plan, which it never should be. I'll try to elaborate on this later.

Oh, and I agree with Matt_NJ. I like to be as self suffecient as possible because when it comes down to it, it's my *** on the line, not the other diver that never has as much training as I do.

Team diving requires you to be self sufficient to the point that you can help solve other people's problems in addition to your own. It's a fallacy to equate team diving with lack of self-sufficiency. In fact, it's patently false and it requires more skill than solo diving. It takes discipline and time to train together so that your team does not break down, though, so for some they choose to solo dive rather than pair up with someone who isn't up to par. It does work though, when you make up your mind to make it work and it exponentially increases the safety of the dive. Solo diving is safer than same ocean buddy diving, but not even close to the safety level of two people who are trained and on the same page.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

My recommendation would be to keep both 2nd stages on your main tank and get a whole new reg (1st and 2nd) for the pony.

When I dive my pony bottle, I see it as being for my own self-rescue if needed and not really for my buddy. If I encounter an OOA situation, I would donate my primary and switch to my bungeed backup. I would not consider using my pony in this instance. If I have a 1st stage or valve issue, I would go to my pony and abort.

The only time I'd bother with giving my pony to a buddy is if they signal low on air and I have a little bit more time to deploy and then hand them the pony reg in an lower stress situation. I'd then unclip it from my side and either hand it to them or clip it on their BC for them. We'd then abort the dive together.

BTW ... I carry a 30 and consider a 19 about as small as you'd want to go. I can think of too many situations where a 13 is just not enough air, especially if you don't have a full 3000 psi in it.

 

[diverdan214]

The first question you need to ask yourself:
Why do you want a pony tank?

The first question YOU need to ask yourself: Are you answering the question being asked?



To the OP: I understand your thinking as it's similar to mine but there's a few reasons you'd still want a octo on your main reg. In my mind the benefits of your setup are:

It's cheaper
It's more streamline
It's less confusing

However I don't think an extra octo costs that much, esp added on to the overall cost of another 1st stage and the bottle, not to mention however you rig it to yourself.

Once you've got the bottle strapped on another hose across the chest isn't killing your streamline that much.

As long as you get different octos for your main tank and your pony it shouldn't take that much to learn and avoid confusion. If you're that worried about confusion I've seen some divers that have either their pony or octo reg set in a very different place from the other. (Octo across chest, pony reg down at side for instance)

On the other hand: There are a few scenarios where you would want a traditional octo in addition to the pony. If you have a panicked OOA person breathing off your pony, it will go real fast esp if you're deep. I guess you could puff puff pass off your primary, but that seems like a greater pain than just having an octo off your main 1st to switch to if your pony empties or fails for some reason. Also if for some reason your primary failed you could still breath off your octo and make a nice slow ascent. If this happened on what you propose and you were deep your air supply is tighter.

Maybe your should consider an AIR2 with this setup. You get the benefits of streamline/lack of confusion and while AIR2's are far from ideal in a scenario where your pony isn't enough it's better than nothing. That's currently what I'm trying.

 

[Soggy]

The first question YOU need to ask yourself: Are you answering the question being asked?

Frequently, people ask the wrong questions or come up with a solution that doesn't address the original problem.

 

[texdiveguy]

....DIR minded folks and Hybrid divers,,,,,the differences are obvious,,,,goods and bads on both sides of the fence. :shakehead

 

[divad]

The first question YOU need to ask yourself: Are you answering the question being asked?
QUOTE]




"You need to ask yourself why do you want a pony?" is a perfectly reasonable response:

If the answer is, "to have a redundant air supply," the answer to the original question is no, integrating the pony in the main system negates it's redundancy.

If the answer is, etc. etc.

Asking "why do you want one," is just trying to refine the original question to which there are a bunch of different answers.


Sorry, I just realized Soggy just said this.

 

[diverdan214]

That would be perfectly fine if that was the intent in asking it, having read said posters comments in other thread and this one I don't think it was.

It's funny you didn't take my question as a question (which was the intent), but then defend the original question (why do you want a pony) as a genuine question. You are quite right, it is a perfectly reasonable question if you take it as one. I never said it wasn't.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

"You need to ask yourself why do you want a pony?" is a perfectly reasonable response:

If the answer is, "to have a redundant air supply," the answer to the original question is no, integrating the pony in the main system negates it's redundancy.

If the answer is, etc. etc.

Asking "why do you want one," is just trying to refine the original question to which there are a bunch of different answers.


Sorry, I just realized Soggy just said this.

I totally agree with that statement. As soon as you hang your alternate off of your pony you must factor the pony into your dive plan / gas calculations. That's another reason to keep both your primary and your alternate connected to the 1st stage on your main tank. Keep the pony as a completely alternate air source (note I didn't say redundant as it's smaller than your main tank) for self rescue situations and do not factor it into your gas plan, except to make sure your pony is big enough to get you back to the surface from an emergency at your max depth.

 

[divad]

That would be perfectly fine if that was the intent in asking it, having read said posters comments in other thread and this one I don't think it was.

It's funny you didn't take my question as a question (which was the intent), but then defend the original question (why do you want a pony) as a genuine question. You are quite right, it is a perfectly reasonable question if you take it as one. I never said it wasn't.

Even if the question in question (Why do you want a pony) seemed to be of questionable intent,ie, rhetorical, it is still requires the OP to think about it and hopefully get to some of the answers himself. OR, ask a more precice question which I bellieve SparticlBrane would have answered with alacrity.

 

[T.Kitchen]

Guys... Thanks for all the info... a little more fighting then i would like but most make really great points... There are too many diffrent uses.. I've also learned how to word my questions that i post to this group... (choose wisely my son)....