When do you use a pony?

[renegade17]

I was on the fence on this issue for a little while until I saw a "narked" divemaster on a deep dive in cold water cough on some water after her reg free-flowed at depth and neither she or her husband reacted quickly enough. She ended up using his alternate, but they both went up too quick due to the sudden OOA situation and panick. If I ever have a free-flow, I will grab my pony reg, turn on the air and continue to sip air until I need to switch. I'm never totally dependent on my buddy realizing what is going on and responding, but I'm self-reliant. I practice using my pony at all depths throughout the diving season.

 

[gulfdvr68]

Where is the best place to rig the pony bottle. I have a 13cu

 

[WD8CDH]

Never use one...................always have one (or other redundant air) if it is deeper than a pool.

 

[renegade17]

Where is the best place to rig the pony bottle. I have a 13cu

Personal preference. I carry my 19cf strapped to my main tank on the left side. I can reach it easily to turn it on and off, and deploy the reg. The gauge is routed to my left front d-ring. I use a din reg so I can keep the rig pressurized, but the valve off, so when I need air- it's there (not leaked out over the dive). There are times when I sling it also. It's YOUR AIR- how do you want to access it? Just make sure that you can reach the valve, reach the reg, and see the gauge, and that you practice with whatever configuration you decide on so if you ever need it, it's not so stressful to use. Do a search on past posts and I'm sure you'll find that different divers prefer different set-ups.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Where is the best place to rig the pony bottle. I have a 13cu

I first tried a pony bag that was secured to the side of my BP/W with a 13. It worked, but I found that it flopped around too much for my liking. After that I moved to a stage bottle type mounting, which I still use. On a 13 the stage option is not as convenient as it is on the 40, IMO.

 

[carrielsal]

For recreational diving, I dive a pony for solo diving. Since I always dive the same way I use the pony when diving with buddies.

Carrie