Why Sling to The Left?

[NorthWoodsDiver]

Now that I finally have all my regs and parts for a complete pony setup I have to ask why does everyone keep their pony slung on the left. I tried on my bc with the 19 slung on the left and it seems like a jumble of crap on one side. My inflator (air 2) and pony first stage colide with each other making it look difficult to fish for the right item. my right side has nothing on it so it seems like a better side. can someone shine some light on this subject for me. Thanks

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Honestly I would ditch the AIR2 when you have the pony

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I dont intend to remove my air 2 cause I am getting a bp/w soon with an inflator anyway but it dont matter cause the inflator is gonna collide with the pony too. there has to be a good reason why every one says put your pony on the left.

 

[Jasonmh]

I dont intend to remove my air 2 cause I am getting a bp/w soon with an inflator anyway but it dont matter cause the inflator is gonna collide with the pony too. there has to be a good reason why every one says put your pony on the left.

One reason is because alot of people who are saying that dive with a long primary hose, and slinging a bottle on the right can interfere with the long hose deployment.

 

[MSilvia]

Another reason is that many people who recommend the left have a light cannister on the right. Mostly though, it's because of long hose deployment interference.

Most people who use a BP/W with a left-slung bottle also use a short (12"-16") inflator hose, so it doesn't interfere with the D-ring the bottle is clipped to.

 

[Ben_ca]

When I sling a bottle (40 cu ft) it just disappears under my left arm... dove almost an hour... most of it scootering without really noticing it was there.

There's a reason why people like the DIR/Hog setup so much....

start tossing in Air 2's and traditional BC's it gets a bit more complicated.

 

[Gil57usa]

You can always attach the pony to your main tank. Zeagle has a nice set of cam bands to do this.

 

[nereas]

You will see a lot of divers attach their pony to the right or left side of their tank, on their back, valve down. Then to activate it, they can reach back for it. A right handed diver will normally put it on the right back side, and a left handed diver on the left back. That is not what I do, but you can still see this.

In the overall scheme of generalized diving, the common configurations have evolved over the decades due (1) to cave diving and (2) to DPVs (diver propulsion vehicles).

Since you normally hold onto your DPV with your right hand, because that is how the grip is normally built, that frees the left side to sling your stage bottle(s).

This configuration then makes its way into the training agencies.

Whether you attach your pony on the front or back, or to the right or left, is up to you, totally.

I also suggest the left front side, which is how I attach my stage bottle.

 

[nereas]

One reason is because alot of people who are saying that dive with a long primary hose, and slinging a bottle on the right can interfere with the long hose deployment.

NWD, now ask Jason if he knows why the longer hose? Other than, that is what he was told to do by somebody.

 

[nereas]

...Mostly though, it's because of long hose deployment interference.
...

In 5 years of tech diving I have never had a problem with long hose deployment interference with stage bottles on both sides, mon signor Silvia, my friend.