Pony Bottles

[rcojr]

I totally agree with a side slung pony bottle, preferably aluminum.  Aluminum will float up beside your body and be out of the way. If I was spending the money I would buy a 30 or 40 cu/ft aluminum cylinder. Not much more expense but a lot more back up. I haven't noticed an increase in drag, but then I don't dive 2000 ft. into a cave. Most of my dives our on shipwrecks, where you only go 300 or 400 ft each way. The most ponies I have dived with is 3, two 40cu/ft and one 80 cu/ft.
To me it feels strange to be in the water without a pony
Bob

[DiverQueen]

But nobody ever mentions that when you add a stage tank, you may need to remove weight to counter for the added equipment....My first dive with a 30c/f stage tank took me down pretty fast before I compensated and got back to neutral.  After sitting at that depth :o, I needed the extra air to get back to the surface with a safety stop!

So remember to do a buoyancy check with any changes in the equipment rig!!

Happy Diving!  Sure wish I was this time of year!!! :

[tim]

did you have your camera with on that dive?

[DiverQueen]

No, but I do remember wanting to take a picture of the Purple Algae on the trees on the way back up....Or was I just that narc'ed?

I have taken the camera down to the purple stuff and the pix didn't come out.  Second try was with the dive light.  Have not developed those yet :  This spring will be with the new digital camera and strobe!

[tim]

No I think the purple stuff is there.
Please tell of new camera, ben thinking of geting one.
Tim

[jleech]

Your SAC rate is pretty phenomenal.  28 min on a 13cu ft tank at 55 ft calculates out to 0.174 cuft/min.    Most divers are somewhere between 0.5 at rest and 0.8 while swimming.  Using a typical newer diver rate of 0.8 cuft per min, you would only get just over 6 min at 55 ft using a 13 cuft tank.

I agree, diving is fun but sometimes you like to do more challenging things (deep/cold/wreck penetrations) and for those activities, a pony makes a lot of sense.  I wouldn't put a pony on most newby divers, but as divers get more experience and they get into more difficult situations, a pony may be the right choice.



Jeff Leech

[Shooter]

Can't we all just get along?


Me likey lots o air :

It took me awhile to get used to cocking my gun with the pony. I like the safety factor, ??? I can push the envelope a little safer now ???  ;D

[Michelle Crowe]

Due to the
hydrodynamic drag,

Personally


I like to see


my Pony Bottle,


six to 8 feet to my


left at all times,
strapped to my


195 pound
Dive Partner.


(ain't that right Stuart?)

[deepdarkblue]

Pony's are great, 40's usually work pretty dang well for deco., and plus if you are doin' a run of the mill recreational dive above 30 ft or so you can just use that 40 to get rid of that air and be down ther efor 20 or 30 mins.  Either way they're great for safety, and remember the number one rule of diving, look good.

[LKunze]

Shooter, I'm assuming you were doing deco dives in the doubles setup you have in the picture though right?  So your slung tank really isn't a pony or redundant emergency air supply but rather a deco tank with a nitrox mix (50%) maybe in it?  Just curious.  Wouldn't make much sense to sling an extra tank if it just had the same gas mix as your doubles.