Do you actually see people diving with pony bottles?

[mi000ke]

It seems like most people bungee their pony 2nd stage reg to the tank. I sling left and keep my 2nd stage bungee-clipped to my left shoulder. The pony 2nd lies almost in my hands, so very easily accessible. Any problems I might face clipping it to my shoulder instead of attaching to the pony tank?

 

[Marie13]

I ditched the inner tube and got an elastic band with a little loop handle on it from dgx. Works great. I use bungee around the cylinder neck to hold the 2nd stage in place.

The elastic retainer band with the little loop is very helpful.

 

[lowviz]

@Marie13 I'm honestly curious as to why you find it helpful.

I only mess with the bottom band on the surface. The elastic strap just doesn't hold the hose loop down as tightly, things move around. As for the top of the pony, I can find the tails on the bungee easily with heavy gloves but not the tab so it doesn't work optimally for me there either.

 

[Marie13]

The tab on the elastic hose retainer helps me get a good grip to pull band away from cylinder to push hose under, especially with gloves on. I've stowed second stage/hose underwater when I've practiced deployment.

 

[uncfnp]

I think they were mentioned up thread but I like these...

As for restowing during a dive, if deployed IRL it stays in use until on the boat. If practicing, just loop it around my neck and leave it, again until back on the boat.

 

[soggybadger]

Can you explain how you do a CESA while entangled?

The wife had this problem on her ow. Best not to try a CESA next to an assent line whilst heavily over weighted and your instructor tangled up below. Watching the emergency response was informative.

 

[soggybadger]

You're absolutely right about this, and it does concern me. I hope that my hypothetical OOA wouldn't be an empty lungs and mouthful of water sort of thing. A free flowing regulator gives lots of cushion. So does a busted hose. I have a hard time imaging my nightmare scenario where I can't go to my necklace reg. Maybe a catastrophic failure in the 1st stage? Maybe simultaneous entanglement and OOA?

Honestly though, this one does worry me. I still think that the chances of the nightmare scenario are slim, and other modes of failure are more forgiving. My primary 2nd stage is on a 7' hose which itself contains a lot of air to expand on the way up. In truth I've only done shallow CESAs during training. I'm almost looking forward to a real world excuse to do one, almost like the first time I lost a mask unexpectedly and was pleased at what a non-issue it was. On the other hand, a real life CESA and a lost mask are very different things.

Thanks for the correction @rek_diver. I usually finish solo dives with close to half my air remaining. That gives me more extra air than a 19 cf pony. At 500psi an AL80 contains only 13 cf remaining. At 1400psi I still have over 36 cf - a difference of over 23 cf. Again, I don't want to make this into a solo diving debate, but it isn't like I'm not thinking about these things.

Dumpster diver springs to mind. I think he was probably more than grateful for his pony.

 

[lowviz]

...//... I've stowed second stage/hose underwater when I've practiced deployment.

Now I get it. Practicing and then re-stowing with no intention to end the dive. Thx.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[Dan]

How much counter weight do you need to add to get this 100psig 2L coke bottle to be neutrally buoyant?