I suggest continuing to sail SIU at least 4 months a year. Once you have a Mate OSV go work on the OSVs for another four months a year to accumulate seatime faster.
Once you have 3rd Mate, go sail where you want to: officers union or OSVs, or both.
Ok that sounds like a good plan. What kind of wages would you expect to see for someone new to osvâs? And my last question is whatâs the point of getting master 100 inland if I donât plan on sailing on it? Thanks again for your help and insight. 
Master 100 for inland routes gives you the opportunity to go to school now and study for USCG exams and get a first license.
The Master 100 exam is somewhat similar to 3rd Mate exam, but no celestial. It will be the same Rules of the Road as the 3rd Mate exam. This first two week course should jumpstart your ability to self-study 3rd Mate.
Getting that first license is a great confidence builder.
OSV wages as a Mate will be much more than union AB wages.
No. Deep Sea vessels are all over 1,600 GRT so your license wouldnât be valid.
The required classes and exams are identical so yes, SIU did provide that training.
If you want to continue to work deep sea stay with SIU.
As an intro to taking USCG exams.
Yeah the exams might be identical but you must have 1080 sea days to take the AB to mate program. So thats why i was asking if its worth leaving siu for the 1600, but i think i got most of my questions answered and some other things cleard up also. Thanks.
I would advise against it if you want to stay sailing deep sea. You have to start with AMO within a year of sailing with SIU for your pension days to transfer over so if you go to OSVs for a bit in the interim youâll screw yourself on the long run.
2 Likes
SIUâs Pension plan states that 9,000 seadays only accounts to just over 1k a month so unless AMO is substantially higher i donât really think its worth losing sleep over right?
Any they wonder why young people donât want to go to sea.
Thatâs only the basic benefit, not the income based benefit.
AMO is a defined contribution plan and the contribution is a percentage of income based off of time in the Union. SIU pension days count towards time in the Union and that makes a huge difference.
Hey i know you mentioned getting my 100 ton master inland. What other licenses are pretty seamless or worthwhile acquiring on my way to a 1600 ton NC?
As a rule of thumb get all you can, as early as you can.
With 580 days of seatime,
Master 100 Inland (which is really a stealth near coastal route in New England, Washington, and parts of Alaska) comes to mind. Maybe you could get Mate 200 ton Inland (youâll have to consult the NMC Checklist for that).
With 720 days there are probably several other licenses that you would qualify for in addition to Mate 1600 and Mate OSV. Read the checklists.
It doesnât take a lot of time, money, or effort to get the 100 ton. Itâs worth doing.
Also, there maybe some AB jobs on passenger vessels and research vessels where the ABs are required to have a 100 ton because they take passengers and scientists ashore in small boats.
Shipping is good right now, but itâs already starting to slow down. Sail hard now, bank money, and acquire seatime while you can.