Spare Air questions

[Omicron]

I've seen that system a lot, so I figured it must have something going for it. My bad.

I've done an impromptu setup a few times myself, w/ just slinging a bottle and that has worked out pretty well.


And I will second the motion about H-Valves being a pain in the a$$ to do drills on. I can do 'em, but I look like an epileptic while I do it.

[Deep Blue]

Since Jon is offline with power supply issues, I will step in and defend the spare air, now everyone sit down, I am not going to advocate it for scuba diving, but as I have been hanging around with Jon too much, they do have an application in freediving. I know that Jon wears one when he is freediving with a scooter, in case his scooter fails. The spair air will get you back to the surface.

As far as a bail out option for scuba, I go back to my favorite saying about a spair air, "At 130 feet, a Spair Air will provide enough gas to get you through about 1/2 of the Lord's prayer"

One of the funniest things that I ever saw was at DEMA about 2 years ago, they actually have a NITROX spair air, in the words of Susan Powder, "Stop the instanity!!!"

[DiveCaptDean]

what on earth for!!!!!!

is that to take advantage of the mix while you are taking those three breaths?

[DiveCaptDean]

can you say garden hose and 20lb anchor

[john j]

I like the idea of the spare air for freediving. I woudn't have thought of that one. That is really neat. People are really clever sometimes. Seems those serious freedivers do some interesting things.

[Omicron]

Using it for an emergency in Freediving is definitely a cool idea.

DiveCaptDean - are you talking about that guy that made the news a few days ago who was looking for something he dropped overboard??

I guess he took a garden hose and some weight with him underwater. And then he lost his hose...heh.

[Rik]

Ok Guys,
Thanks for the input.
I figure I'll save up and buy a Pony bottle with another Good Reg and for complete back up safety I'll pack some duct tape and steel my neighbor 150 foot garden hose!
One more ?
Where do you get a saddle for the pony?

O+<

[DiveCaptDean]

Yea, it was my little way of saying DOH!!!!
A nitrox spare air.....this just makes about the same sense as grabbing a 20 lb anchor and a garden hose as jumping into 30ft of water....

My opinion.,......Pony Bottle.......mount it where its comfy make sure you can reach the valves....Twins are great and have their purpose...they are spendy and heavy...

Good Luck

[FreediveWI]

I only use mine when scootering wrecks in case my scooter fails. For scuba it is next to worthless.

For true bailout a set of lightweight doubles, like aluminum 80's, are the only full-proof method. Ponies should be side slung, just like John J. mentioned. I would use a 40, or an 80 if I just had to dive solo. A 30 doesn't give you all that much if you have a problem at 100'- and start to really suck down the gas!

Another advantage to a side-slung poney is that it can be passed off to anyone who needs it. If you need to use it yourself then the valve is right there in front of you in case of a free flow problem.

Too many times I have seen people use their pony bottles to extend their dive times. This is not a smart thing to do and should be used for emergancies only.

Jon

[dfreeman]

Jon brings up a good point. It is very important to watch air consumption. Use the rule of thirds. Having a third of a tank of air available for emergencies is the easiest spare air to have.

Doug