Confirmed Rebel Rider sighting!
Itās been kind of quiet on here without himā¦he must be workinā hard.
They have spotted the rebel
I dont see him out on deck chipping or painting. He must be bugging the mate for some wheeltime!!
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;79263]Confirmed Rebel Rider sighting![/QUOTE]
Dang, I thought I recoginezed that old boat, that is the old āKevin Candiesā . I canāt believe it is still around, almost makes me feel old.
Kind of hard to forget those old ugly a$$ 4200 class boats that candies had. It didnāt have the upper wheel house on it back then. HOS must have spent some money on those boats.
Good luck to you Reb, you gonna need it.
Rebel Rider is on his way home and will no doubt have plenty of tales for us.
His 3 weeks is over?
Whew!! Back home last night at 2300. Iāve been working the 0000-1200 watch since the 10th? I donāt know about the OSVās but on Tugs you work your ass off. The Michigan Service is mated with the Energy 6507 (fuel barge) SO actually you work on two boats. Luckly the barge has a bow thruster so it makes it somewhat easier. The Captian and the Mate are experts at putting it alongside the pier, with help from us on deck calling ranges and angles. I personally called it in on the radio twice. My ranging sucks but Iāll get better. Iāve learned to use the tension winch and other dangerous deck equiptment that can suck you in and eat you. Iāve been told winter adds more danger, frozen lines,snow,ice.
The crew on deck were very,very paitent with āthe new guyā keeping me from killing myself or anyone else. Working on deck is like working in a minefield, there are so many dangerous ops that are just part of a normal day.
āAccomadationsā are cramped,noisy but liveable. I had a top rack, somedays it was a struggle to get in after a tough shift.(no ladder) Food is WONDERFUL! I swear there is everything in the pantry. Luckly for the crew you donāt āhave to cookā. They average one ācookedā meal a day and leftovers or whatever you can rustle up. The Cheif eng likes to cook and heās good at it. The Captain treated us to Chinesse take-out after we pulled in to 21st street and secured.
We traveled up and down the Hudson river. Picking up and dropping off rbob(regular) and pbob(preimium) also Ethanol (that shit stinks)
The work is hard and dangourous but makes ya feel really good when itās done.
It took awhile to āclickā with the crew being āgreenā dosenāt help. After the first week they knew I was sencire about learning and stuff got better.
My job duties include - CLEANINGā¦everything. Painting alot. Line handling, line checking, checking the engines and genset. Starting/stopping the engines,genset and deck winch engine. Bridgewatch while underway. Tieing up the barge/tug, helping make and break pushgear. (kelvar lines are awsome) We did not use the wire/tow. Splicing lines(i need more practice) and knots.
Any āspare timeā I had I spent pulling muscles throwing 2 inch line 10 feet onto the h bar. and flipping them free. (itās waaayyyy harder than you might think)
Well thatās a start, Iāll put more up later.
Thanks for all the msgās and kind words.
Enjoying my 21 day vacation!!!
** EDIT as far as the tug being āOLDā sheās been rebuilt from the keel up. Brand new gensets,pumps,engines just rebuilt, new decking inside, high end electroincs,upper wheelhouse, clean as a pin and fresh paint.(by me!) I think she was built in 81? but you would [U]never[/U] know it.
Also my travel cost $475.84 plus $50 cab. (NYC to Greenbay,Wi) Back to the house. So thatās an extra $1000 in ābenifitsāā¦
Thatās great to hear. Iām glad youāre enjoying it. Working on tugs is a lot harder than crew boats. I used to work for colle towing on push tugs. It takes a little while to get used to everything.
Thanks Paul. Iam enjoying it. Normally they only have a Captian,Mate,Cheif,and two ABās on the tug (officers outnumber the ABās;~( with two Picās on the barge. After several hitches Iām gonna try to get my PIC signed off as we work on the barge too.(then PIC school and advanced FF) Moving hoses,making connections,running the crane,dropping the hook etcā¦ After a year on deck working (180 days) Iāll go get my 500T mate. The only thing that is crappy is the tug is only 93? tons but Iām earning 1.5 days per day.
Sidenote: Donāt get paint in your hair it sucks.
Jesus you canāt hardly work deck & you are talking about getting a license? You might wanna be good on deck before you try to drive.
Lol funny, we are now picking up methanol and it stinks like hell also ( good times ).
[QUOTE=Tugted;79715]Jesus you canāt hardly work deck & you are talking about getting a license? You might wanna be good on deck before you try to drive.[/QUOTE]
Yep, Iām one of those guys that makes crazy plans for the future.
The PIC endsorment gets me another $50 a day. *** Even if Iām not filling that job spot. *** Instant raise if Iām motivated to go do it. Nuts, huh?
Ok, maybe Iām shit talking about getting the 500t mate but if I can hack it on deck who knows?
Why give the man a hard time for planning for the future and trying to better himself? Its funny one second people talk about the lack of officers the GOM could face in a few years but when someone wants to make sure he is in the right spot at the right time, people have to bust his chops. I agree he should be good on deck. But just because he gets his license, doesnāt mean heās going to come off deck before the ink is dry.
Rebel, does Hornbeck not pay for PIC training or not have their own training center? Glad things went well and hope you continue to enjoy it.
[QUOTE=ryanwood86;79724]Why give the man a hard time for planning for the future and trying to better himself? Its funny one second people talk about the lack of officers the GOM could face in a few years but when someone wants to make sure he is in the right spot at the right time, people have to bust his chops. I agree he should be good on deck. But just because he gets his license, doesnāt mean heās going to come off deck before the ink is dry.
Rebel, does Hornbeck not pay for PIC training or not have their own training center? Glad things went well and hope you continue to enjoy it.[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Nope they do not. Also appears to be a paid training āfreezeā right now. Iāll pay for it no problem.
Hornbeck just hired(monthly orentatation) 2 abās, one OS/gonna be a qmed and an engeneer for the tug side. Which means that somebody moved up/Quit? OR they are fixing to get more tugs and need more crewing.
[QUOTE=Rebel_Rider1969;79727]Thanks, Nope they do not. Also appears to be a paid training āfreezeā right now. Iāll pay for it no problem.
[/QUOTE]
When you check with schools, ask if there is any grant money available for classes. In the past 4 years Iāve taken 10 classes in Louisiana, and 8 of them were paid for by grants.
Iām pulling a six week shift this hitch. We are switching to a 5 hand crew so weāre all going to be 28/14 with no 3rd party riggers.
Mayo dude mayo.
I see alot in this thread b#$@%hing about travel pay. Guess Iām lucky. Get paid travel and expenses door to door.
Go orange and black! Training freeze, wow. They just sign up for whatever they want at ECOā¦