How Do You Do Pony?

[happy-diver]

Well I do not use one, nor have any use for one, so you just keep yours for yourself
and we can just spite each other into neither of us running out of air to require one

To you! When you come swimming from out of nowhere with dilated pupils, signaling "out of gas!".

 

[Angelo Farina]

Why bother with a crap pony tank?
If you want full redundance with all your gas always available, a compact manifolded twin tank is better.
It is also very compact and streamlined, and provides good balancing.
A 7+7 liters, 232 bars, twin is less bulky than a 12 liters single.
Only problem is that if you want to rent them, not all diving operators have them ready to go. Better to ask in advance...
I started diving with twin tanks (at the time 10+10 liters at 150 bars), so I find a twin tank more confortable than a single tank with almost the same capacity.
Now they are truly compact!
Sometimes the twin tank was "not enough".
In those rare cases I added a small 3-liters pony in the middle of the two tanks, which is still more comfortable than slinging it on your side.

 

[Baydoun]

When I solo at remote locations, I just rent a second AL80 and sling it on my left side. Easy, and I don't have to bring another tank in my luggage.

do you find any advantage to this over sidemount AL80s? is the second AL80 used at all in your dive and part of gas planning or is it still just a pony for emergencies only?

 

[Doc Harry]

do you find any advantage to this over sidemount AL80s? is the second AL80 used at all in your dive and part of gas planning or is it still just a pony for emergencies only?

Never trained sidemount, only backmount.

But for diving singles with recreational gear, it's simple to rent another AL80. Almost no one has AL40s or smaller, so I take what I can get. If I could rent an AL40, I would.

Stricly for emergencies.

 

[Dann-Oh]

Is the second AL80 used at all in your dive and part of gas planning or is it still just a pony for emergencies only?

This is the issue I have with the term "pony tank" and why I never use the term. If you were to swap out the term "pony" to "bailout" everyone would know exactly what you mean, this tank is for emergencies only. "Pony" tanks are never taken in to account for gas planning purposes.

If you are planning to use that gas then you have a stage bottle and that is a totally different thing. Yes I understand its pedantic and I'm fighting an uphill battle but the battle is about the divers mindset.

If I'm bringing a second tank I will be in sidemount; I can do LP50s for recreational dives to 100ft, I can do LP72s for recreational dives to 130ft. When I start decompression diving I will sidemount my LP72s and deco gas in my LP50(s). I do not plan do get into diving with more than 4 cylinders. I do have the option for HP100s but I don't think I'll need that much gas.

 

[Baydoun]

This is the issue I have with the term "pony tank" and why I never use the term. If you were to swap out the term "pony" to "bailout" everyone would know exactly what you mean, this tank is for emergencies only. "Pony" tanks are never taken in to account for gas planning purposes.

If you are planning to use that gas then you have a stage bottle and that is a totally different thing. Yes I understand its pedantic and I'm fighting an uphill battle but the battle is about the divers mindset.

If I'm bringing a second tank I will be in sidemount; I can do LP50s for recreational dives to 100ft, I can do LP72s for recreational dives to 130ft. When I start decompression diving I will sidemount my LP72s and deco gas in my LP50(s). I do not plan do get into diving with more than 4 cylinders. I do have the option for HP100s but I don't think I'll need that much gas.

I generally assume a pony = emergency bailout. I only asked for this specific situation where the emergency bailout is in an equivalent amount to the back gas, and if there was a benefit to that over going sidemount (if trained) with the same amount of redundancy, and proper planning to allow for a similar safety margin.

 

[gamon]

Why bother with a crap pony tank?

Because they can be taken onboard a plane and strapped to a rental tank at a distant dive location and supply the same redundancy and a backup (albeit smaller but sufficient for recreational depths) as a separate full size tank.

And the rig is considerably lighter and less bulky with a pony as compared to 2 full size tanks. For those of us with back issues, it matters.

 

[Dann-Oh]

Next Scuba development goal for me is doing Solo Diver cert in the next year or so.

I'd kinda like to get some of the gear squared away (or at least exposed to and familiarized with) and get a little water experience with it beforehand. I know that there is/are folks that eschew ponies, but where I'm at, Texas, the only "local" option for short weekend diving trips (outside of mud puddles with shallow, pronounced themoclines, and I have no interest there) is Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary/Fling liveaboard - ponies OK - no doubles allowed.

For slung pony bottles as a redundant air source, and hanging them off of a BCD, for a right handed person, slung left or right? I'm right handed so my first thought was sling to the left. Already have the BC inflator/integrated Octo on the left... Would slinging left make that too "busy"? If slinging left, is a reversible second stage so you can route the hose from the left needed? (I will probably eventually do a sidemount setup first off may or may not make sense).

Probably thinking an AL19 or a steel hp 23 for working pony bottle (something I can easily drain and carry to fabulous warm, clear water all-inclusive resort destinations - those with a good bar - all over the world. Don't think my 40 will stow easily under the seat in front of me - but that's probably what I'd carry on Texas Gulf Coast charters where I can drive to the boat).

OMMOHY

Since this thread is still going on. @OMyMyOHellYes have you bought a tank yet? Are you going to go ahead with sidemount? If so you should look in a tank no smaller than 40cf so you can use it both for sidemount AND as a redundant air source. It seems silly, to me, to have both set ups.

 

[PBcatfish]

Why bother with a crap pony tank?
If you want full redundance with all your gas always available, a compact manifolded twin tank is better.
It is also very compact and streamlined, and provides good balancing.
A 7+7 liters, 232 bars, twin is less bulky than a 12 liters single.
Only problem is that if you want to rent them, not all diving operators have them ready to go. Better to ask in advance...
I started diving with twin tanks (at the time 10+10 liters at 150 bars), so I find a twin tank more confortable than a single tank with almost the same capacity.
Now they are truly compact!
Sometimes the twin tank was "not enough".
In those rare cases I added a small 3-liters pony in the middle of the two tanks, which is still more comfortable than slinging it on your side.

For me, the reason is because a crap pony is small & easy to carry. I don't bring it along to allow me to continue the dive after a primary equipment failure. I bring it to get me home if I decide to bail out after an equipment failure. A single primary tank already weighs more than I really want to carry. I would need a strong reason to carry a second one of those.

If I were doing mission critical dives, I would see the advantages of what you recommend. For my needs, something small is better. I live near the shore & I have my own boat. I can dive any time I want to. If I need to bail out of a dive today, I can just go back with fresh equipment tomorrow. For me, the loss of a single dive is a small price to pay. I understand that for many others, the situation may be different.

 

[PBcatfish]

... "Pony" tanks are never taken in to account for gas planning purposes.

If you are planning to use that gas then you have a stage bottle and that is a totally different thing....

Before I had large steel tanks, I would sometimes carry a 30cf, that I called a pony, in addition to the AL80 on my back. In that case, 20cf in the "pony" was part of my gas plan & the last 10cf was my bail out gas. I also planned to surface with 10cf still in the AL80. I called the small cylinder a pony tank at the time, but you present a compelling point & perhaps I should reconsider the name I choose to use.