Pony attached to main cylinder or No?

[CJM]

Ok.. so it seems there is some people who like and dislike the idea of attaching a pony to your main cylinder. I am in the market for a pony bottle and was going to get the pony tamer with it to secure it to my main cylinder. I have been told by a couple peole thats a bad idea and yet I have seen some do it and say it's good. So I'm looing for some opinions. Pros, cons?? I just find it cumbersome to clip the bottle to my BCD and have it hang on my side. Any thoughts or suggestions is welcome please.

 

[redacted]

Slinging it is much more convenient and manageable. But if you are really set on the pony tamer, I've got a used one I'd be happy to sell.

 

[Tomikp]

A ponny bottle attached to your main single cylinder is a source of possible problems in case you are entangled. In case you need to operate valves, are you sure you are able to reach them all? Further your trim is not optimal due to irregular weight distribution. As for me it is better to use a small twin (2x7, 2x10) than a big primary cylinder and some little bottle. On the other hand when you really want to use the ponny, use it as a stage bottle.

 

[BEM]

I have a 13 cuft pony that I attach to my main tank (100 steel.) I have it upside down, on the right side, low enough that I can reach the valve fairly easily. The reg is on a longer hose that I have on a bungee cord around my neck. Depending on the dive (water conditions, depth, current, etc.) I either have the valve open or closed (but I always charge the system – and check that it reg will keep the charge – gives me a breath to open the valve.) It doesn’t feel awkward or unbalanced (I offset my weights to balance the pony by having 2 pounds on the left side.) A button pressure gauge is on the 1st stage. This is in my 3mm wetsuit (mostly for solo dives) and tropic gloves. I don't think I'll sling a tank this small as I don't mind it being attached to the tank.

In a drysuit it is much more cumbersome to back attach it (harder to get the BPW on/off, reach the valve, distribute the left compensating weight – and as I don’t remove my octopus, the drysuit inflator hose is another piece of equipment to deal with.) And dry gloves are not as flexible as tropic gloves. A larger pony (40 cuft) is easier to use- as long as it is slung. So I don’t like to back attach a pony in my drysuit.

 

[Randy43068]

sling it...

search is your friend, friend.

 

[mksmith713]

Sling it. Much easier to read your SPG....especially if you have a short hose.

 

[Randy43068]

Sling it. Much easier to read your SPG....especially if you have a short hose.

That's what she meant about my short hose, eh? LOL

 

[battles2a5]

You have a lot more options available to you when you sling it. You can manipulate the valve if needed, you can free any entanglements, you can pass off the pony if somebody else needs it (which IMO is safer than having them attached to your air supply if dealing w/ an insta-buddy or someone without a lot of training), and if/when you are ready to move into doubles, you will have a stage set-up ready to go.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

There is something to be said for both setups. Slinging it is the safer route because you can detect leaks and keep an eye on the pressure gauge. However, it can get in the way if you are doing photography. On my last underwater photo shoot, my pony bottle killed what would have been the best shot of the whole vacation: I was diving on a North Carolina wreck, trying to get close-up shots of the large Sandtiger sharks that slowly cruised the wreck. I was hovering just above the main deck, positioning myself for an incoming shark, and when he came right toward me, I started to move forward, raised my rig, framed the shark's face in my viewfinder and just when I was about to press the shutter for an awesome portrait, something jerked me back. I thought "FCUK!!!!!", the shark went past me and that was it. Turned out my slung pony had snagged a piece of wreckage and held me back. Boy, was I pissed! At that moment, I swore to back-mount it in the future. However, in the meantime I've come to realize that perhaps I need to practice more and simply get used to diving with the pony and take it into account better. If photography is not an issue for you, then slinging your pony is a no-brainer.

 

[tc]

Depends, I use one of the quick release mounts with my 19cf and prefer that to slinging. A weight pocket on the opposite side of the strap with a 4 pounder balances things out nicely.

It does make the rig heavier to lift on the surface so thats a consideration as well.

Never had a problem snagging it on anything- it's tucked in pretty close to the wing so if anything on my back gets snagged it's the main tank- not the pony. And in either case it's fairly easy (if you practice it) to remove the whole rig to clear the entanglement.

Handing it off is more difficult from this position, since I dive primarily solo and it's main purpose is as a redundant supply for me I don't consider that a problem. (Another diver OOA- no problem, hand them my primary on it's long hose and I go on the pony reg.)

I like having the area in front of me as clear as I can so the trade off in ease of removing the pony is worth it for me.