Proper hose management when using pony bottles.

[Linedog]

Sorry if this is off base but why do you dive with a pony, watch your air! I used to dive with a pony, but switched to a steel HP 130. Ya you will get the what if's but if you watch your air and take care of your equipment you should not have what if's.

 

[YCSO40]

Our ponies have a small "plug" psi gauge and we have Air-II's


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[shoredivr]

Sorry if this is off base but why do you dive with a pony, watch your air! I used to dive with a pony, but switched to a steel HP 130. Ya you will get the what if's but if you watch your air and take care of your equipment you should not have what if's.

Stuff can hit the fan even with well maintained equipment. People dive in all kinds of places, including very cold water, where having redundancy is important. A single 130 cu ft can freeflow just as easily here in 42F water as any other tank, no matter how much you watch your air, and a way to deal with this is having redundancy, either an H-valved tank or a second, separate tank (pony, sidemount, doubles). Others may say a way to deal with this is having a buddy, but two stressed people breathing off one tank in very cold water can lead to another freeflow.

Yes the OP lives in Florida, but if he wants to dive with redundancy that's his choice.

 

[DevonDiver]

Go stand in the corner and wear the 'Spaghetti Hat of Shame'...

 

[jonnythan]

Absolute train wreck. Get rid of the computer hooked to your pony. Get rid of the Spare Air. Get an inflator hose that isn't two feet too long. Seriously evaluate how necessary the pony even is.

Are you wearing vinyl gloves?

 

[yarik83]

I would appreciate if I was not singled out as some sort of noob...thank you very much. I enjoy a healthy and helpful debate.

I dive in safest way I consider possible. One of which is diving with garden gloves. I find them warm, durable and they prevent punctures. If and when I rest with 1 finger on dead coral while filming something to steady my shot... last thing I want is to be pricked, poked, punctured, lacerated or otherwise. My $2.00 garden gloves have done a splendid job protecting me for past 5 years.

I do dive with spare air and pony for reasons of personal safety. I have had a number of critical failures to my gear in the past that make it safer for me personally to dive with redundant air sources in case you know what hits the fan. I have been separated from buddies and I had equipment failures even though my gear is babysat and well maintained.

Do I need a computer on my pony? No. But I have a perfectly fine console that has pressure gauge and I could go ahead and buy a pressure gauge on a hose and spend money or recycle gear that I have.
I will take all comments under advisement as I know that this community has a lot of experienced divers.

I personally dove without redundant air sources for 2 years. Purchased Spare air in 2009 after getting separated from buddies and having to fight current while making my safety stop to meet them on surface. I also had my o-rings blow on me in cavern diving and in a lake and while I always dive in a group of my dive buddies we do not hold hands. I video tape, they lobster. I video tape, they look around for things I could videotape. More than half the time while I am video taping half the group is getting carried off by current so I have to chase after them. I ended up purchasing a pony bottle early this year as additional redundancy.

With that said I will keep experimenting. Thank you for feedback.

 

[fire_diver]

You asked for advice on hose management. Every answer given (subtracting the ones saying not to use a pony) has been spot on.
Are you only going to argue with those offer that which you asked for?

 

[Doppler]

Hi folks.

I look like a christmas tree. I am sure I am not the only person with this dilemma so here is my question to you guys...

How do you manage your hoses?

Yes you do.

I would suggest first that you invest in DIN Valves. That will begin the streamlining process.

Having redundant first stages is great but having both behind your head AND YOKE, is simply a poor choice. Really, swop the yokes out for DIN.

You will simplify your hose routing by wearing the bailout bottle either a la north Florida cave diver or sidemounted. That way its hoses will be stowed and you will have control of the workings... Things like hand wheel. This also means you can eliminate the extra long SPG hose.

I question the validity of a spare air in a stressful situation or an OOA situation with a semi-panicked buddy... But you may have a different viewpoint on risk assessment and mitigation.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I would appreciate if I was not singled out as some sort of noob...thank you very much. I enjoy a healthy and helpful debate.

I dive in safest way I consider possible. One of which is diving with garden gloves. I find them warm, durable and they prevent punctures. If and when I rest with 1 finger on dead coral while filming something to steady my shot... last thing I want is to be pricked, poked, punctured, lacerated or otherwise. My $2.00 garden gloves have done a splendid job protecting me for past 5 years.

I do dive with spare air and pony for reasons of personal safety. I have had a number of critical failures to my gear in the past that make it safer for me personally to dive with redundant air sources in case you know what hits the fan. I have been separated from buddies and I had equipment failures even though my gear is babysat and well maintained.

Do I need a computer on my pony? No. But I have a perfectly fine console that has pressure gauge and I could go ahead and buy a pressure gauge on a hose and spend money or recycle gear that I have.
I will take all comments under advisement as I know that this community has a lot of experienced divers.

I personally dove without redundant air sources for 2 years. Purchased Spare air in 2009 after getting separated from buddies and having to fight current while making my safety stop to meet them on surface. I also had my o-rings blow on me in cavern diving and in a lake and while I always dive in a group of my dive buddies we do not hold hands. I video tape, they lobster. I video tape, they look around for things I could videotape. More than half the time while I am video taping half the group is getting carried off by current so I have to chase after them. I ended up purchasing a pony bottle early this year as additional redundancy.

With that said I will keep experimenting. Thank you for feedback.

Wearing a butt load of equipment will not necessarly improve your safety. Take this from someone who dives with a rig that many people feel is excessive and too complicated. Adding a pony bottle is reasonable. Adding a spare air and a pony bottle and three second stages and two computers and 5 billion hoses provides many more potential failure points, more entanglement hazards, more complexity and more drag which will reduce your efficiency in the water.

You should think hard about what scenarios you are trying to address with such a rig? You need to defend the use of each additional piece of equipment and balance the added risk each piece of equipment subjects you to.

Also, as an aside... You want to dive the safest rig? Well then DO NOT back mount the pony bottle. I backmount mine because it is more convenient, but it is absolutely NOT the safest way to wear it. Having it behind you where you can not access it easily is not the safest way. for example.. you could have an o-ring pop out like on this dive.... It would have been much easier for the diver to handle this on his own in a moment if the pony was slung.

skip to around 90 seconds

[video=youtube_share;Bap2PxetarQ]http://youtu.be/Bap2PxetarQ[/video]


Scuba Failure at 80 feet: GoPro Hero 2 - YouTube

 

[spectrum]

I have to agree with ditching the spare air. It's probably harmless but you can do without the clutter.

You cite impressive durations on your pony and spare air. Remember that the real deal is how you consume in a stressed situation. That can be 2-3 X normal.

Get it off your back and sling it. It's a lot easier to set-up and more effective to use. It also lets you hand it off if need be. The sling configuration really has the preponderance of advantages. Did I mention lower center of gravity?

I endorse the use of a pony any time you do not feel you have adequate redundancy in your buddy (s). This may be due to insta-buddy situations, questionable team skills or going solo.

The big gauge can be of value but reign it in for the safety of you and the gauge. The buttons I have are very coarse and not something you want to base a decision on. The common mentality is to head up and be done with it. If things are close it can be nice to know if you can accommodate stops and so forth. Information is good but don't rely on electronics, keep it simple. Also some of us may use that same regulator or even pony set-up on some dives as a stage to extend bottom time and in those usages good pressure information is also valuable.

Bungee the second stage so it's integral to the pony.

FWIW I got started with the alternate on the left. It presents better to a donor face to face or side by side and still works on the off chance that I need it as well as for drilling. My pony rides on the left where it has plenty of space away from the inflater and snorkel. I'm not necessarily suggesting that you revise your whole configuration but do take time to really think how it all plays together in use.

Pete