No Octo while diving with redundant air supply

[CuzzA]

Been Running an Octo on my primary regulator while diving with a completely redundant system on my back

I'm thinking about ditching the Octo while diving solo as is just one more piece of kit to get in the way

What, if any, compelling reasons are there to keep the octo in play?

Johndiver is giving the best advice here in this thread.

There is absolutely no need for an octo when solo diving. None. Octos are for buddy diving, whether you primary donate or not.

An Air2 makes the most sense if you occasionally buddy dive and back mount your pony when solo. Put the primary on a 40" hose and route it under your right arm on a 90° swivel. You would then primary donate if your buddy ran out of gas and gives enough space to comfortably make an air share ascent with your buddy holding your right arm.

This setup allows the ultimate flexibility for solo diving with a necklaced pony while also switching to buddy diving without a pony. All basic needs for no stop recreational diving are met.

I will add you can also breath off an Aquatec horn if the impossible happened and your primary and Air2 failed to deliver gas. If you have a wireless AI computer you can ditch the SPG and now you have just two hoses on your first stage. Obviously a third for your pony when you use it.

This setup is as streamlined as you can get and negates the need to ever change your configuration. I've tried them all so I'm speaking from experience.

 

[Nemrod]

Never thought about it much but if diving a back mounted pony one could run the Air 2 from the pony. Yes, that would use some of the air for BC inflation but that is minimal. Nah, I do not like that idea.

Do divers who have been in the scuba sport long enough to have accumulated the experience to dive solo actually not have more than one regulator set, that they could dedicate one to a pony and another as a solo rig? And have another set up with a secondary (or octopus, I never liked that term) for buddy diving? That is three first stages and four second stages and three spgs and some hoses. Make them all the same and you only need two service kits.

In my drowning incident, I realize I left out of the several times and variations I have recounted, that the reason my woefully inadequate Oceanic pancake octopus began free flowing is that in addition to the below the first stage seat failed (a commonly used aftermarket replacement part from a company that starts with a T):

1. Computer failed and quit (laryngal spasm so I could not go up and thus went into deco just before it quit)
2. DSV flooded
3. Cage valve must have been stuck flooding intake hose
4. I dropped my sausage spool
5. The emergency clip on my camera lanyard stuck open refusing to lock
6. And he first stage seat went bad causing the IP to go wonkers free flowing my octopus
7. And my buddies and the group left me bnecause I tarried trying to get a photo of a lemon and a turtle in the same frame

Of course in the above recounted situation, I was not intentionally solo. But, yes, excrement can happen and an octopus on a solo rig is a complication and is not a redundant air supply and therefore should be removed for solo. However, as I said earlier, IMO, it is not a great sin to leave it be, especially if shifting back and forth between solo and (same ocean) buddy as often happens. If you have the experience to solo then you have the experience to decide what works best for your situation as it evolves.

I guess my point is that both first and second stages fail and it can happen both at once which is why we either have a buddy if buddy diving or a pony bottle if solo and an octopus/secondary represents neither. It is just something else to get in the way and possibly fail.

And next week I will be in the Carib and I will solo in the area behind the resort in 30ish feet of water with not a pony and I am probably not going to remove my secondary regulator either and worse I have a new DGX BCI to play with. Bless me father for I have and will sin .

 

[rx7diver]

... Do divers who have been in the scuba sport long enough to have accumulated the experience to dive solo ....

@Nemrod,

Accumulated experience is no longer a prerequisite. All a diver really needs is a Solo C-card. (And then he/she can proselytize.)

rx7diver

 

[Nemrod]

@Nemrod,

Accumulated experience is no longer a prerequisite. All a diver really needs is a Solo C-card. (And then he/she can proselytize.)

rx7diver

SDI requires 100 dives. That is time enough to get out your other C-card, that being a credit card and buy them.

 

[Fastmarc]

The SDI book Solo Diver recommends a single second stage per first stage as did my instructor of the time.

Hmm.... this is what I see in my copy of the SDI Solo book. Has it changed and my copy is out dated? Genuine question. I see 2007 on mine.
(Full disclosure: I haven't taken the course yet.)

 

[Nemrod]

Octopus in that contest is referring to your pony regulator IMO, your opinion may differ.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

SDI requires 100 dives. That is time enough to get out your other C-card, that being a credit card and buy them.

As does PADI.

Erik

 

[Fastmarc]

Octopus in that contest is referring to your pony regulator IMO, your opinion may differ.

I don't think so. The list is for 'a properly equiped diver'. It then goes on to say 'a properly equiped Solo diver will cary the same equipment with one major modification...' which turns out to be an independent alternative gas supply which in their opinion should be a pony bottle.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Hmm.... this is what I see in my copy of the SDI Solo book. Has it changed and my copy is out dated? Genuine question. I see 2007 on mine.
(Full disclosure: I haven't taken the course yet.)



View attachment 800487

Strange that the 2007 equipment requirements appear to NOT include a redundant gas supply / cylinder on the equipment list?

I just took the SDI course in May. The below PDF has the updated SDI SOLO course requirements as of Jan 2023.

What I find most interesting is that SDI actually allows a Spare Air as the required redundant gas supply for the course. Might as well just bring a waterproof joke book in your thigh pocket!

PS......, For gas supply, I SOLO dive with a back mounted 19CF pony with dedicated 1st / 2nd Stage, my primary gas with a single 1st / 2nd stage.......and an Air 2 on my BC inflator mechanism.

 

[Fastmarc]

Strange that the 2007 equipment requirements appear to NOT include a redundant gas supply / cylinder on the equipment list?

I just took the SDI course in May. The below PDF has the updated SDI SOLO course requirements as of Jan 2023.

What I find most interesting is that SDI actually allows a Spare Air as the required redundant gas supply for the course. Might as well just bring a waterproof joke book in your thigh pocket!

PS......, For gas supply, I SOLO dive with a back mounted 19CF pony with dedicated 1st / 2nd Stage, my primary gas with a single 1st / 2nd stage.......and an Air 2 on my BC inflator mechanism.

That list is for 'a properly equiped diver'. It then goes on to say 'a properly equiped Solo diver will cary the same equipment with one major modification, which they recomend to be a pony. That section is on the next page were it explores independent alternative gas.