I want to become a mariner on large ships (+sailing endorsement). I keep seeing people in these forums express worry about vessel size for their sea time. On the other hand, the mantra to just get a job on any boat to get a taste of the industry also pops up. I live in a city with a fair number of “tour” boats, you know, the kind that offer dinner cruises and such or water taxis, etc. My experience thus far has been sailboats and other small boats and as watchstanding crew on a few tall ships on longer trips. My true love is tall ships, but I’m having a hard time finding an open postion on one of those.
So I figure what the heck, I’ll take what I can get and work on a dinner boat! I’ll try to get a job as a deckhand on one of these boats in my neighborhood to collect some more sea time. Is this a good idea if I want to move on to bigger and better things? I have an interview in a few days with one of the companies in my city.
I desperately want to get a job with NOAA as a GVA, but I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon, my application has been in perpetual “reviewing applications” mode. SIU apprenticeship is a possibility but I have to get my teeth in perfect shape first. I have my MMC/TWIC but little else.
I want to accumulate sea time as fast as I can. So what do you think, is it worth it going this route, getting sea time on these boats while waiting for better things? I’m cash poor but I don’t have a lot of obligations. I’m not desperate for money, just sea time.
I always advise people to get their initial seatime on vessels over 100grt. The USCG really discounts under tonnage seatime even if the vessel seems large to you. Service on dinner boats will not help you very much towards getting certificated for deepsea vessels.
[QUOTE=c.captain;118070] Service on dinner boats will not help you very much towards getting certificated for deepsea vessels.[/QUOTE]
No but it will help you get your foot in the door so to speak. I started out on a dinner boat I kept moving up and took more classes, now I hold a 500 NC Master/Master of Tow NC, AB Ltd, yadda yadda… and stand my own watch on a tug. Dinner boat time will let you work towards AB special and give you “boat” experience.
Do your homework and get your AB. Work as an AB. From there make the move to 3rd Mate. Or you could get your master 100 ton and after a few years and some courses get your master 500 ton. And after a few more years get your master 1600 ton and after a few more years and a few more courses get your 3rd mate. I recommend the AB to 3rd mate route.
My first license was 50-ton, and I needed a vessel of at least 34 but less than 50 to upgrade to 100 … found it in tour and charter fishing (head) boats. It was not particularly remunerative, but I learned a lot and had fun … and got the time.
And, as mentioned, it beats sitting at the computer thinking about it.
[QUOTE=MariaW;118094]I checked the database and it looks like some of the tour boats are over 100 tons ITC, but I don’t know what type of tonnage number counts. Is it ITC?[/QUOTE]
GRT is what you’ll be interested in. (Gross Registered Tons)
[QUOTE=c.captain;118070]I always advise people to get their initial seatime on vessels over 100grt. The USCG really discounts under tonnage seatime even if the vessel seems large to you. Service on dinner boats will not help you very much towards getting certificated for deepsea vessels.[/QUOTE]
If your time isn’t over 100 GRT, you’ll have a problem upgrading the AB endorsement. You can get AB Special (12 months) without tonnage issues, but if your time is not over 100 GRT, you won’t be able to upgrade to AB-Limited (18 months, all over 100 GRT). You’ll have to wait until you have 3 years before you can upgrade (to AB-Unlimited). That might cause problems as many larger vessels only take AB Limited and Unlimited.
If you’re thinking of eventially getting an unlimited tonnage license, tery to get your time on vessels over 200 GRT. Time under 200 GRT can’t be used for an unlimited license.
[QUOTE=jdcavo;118098]If your time isn’t over 100 GRT, you’ll have a problem upgrading the AB endorsement. You can get AB Special (12 months) without tonnage issues, but if your time is not over 100 GRT, you won’t be able to upgrade to AB-Limited (18 months, all over 100 GRT). You’ll have to wait until you have 3 years before you can upgrade (to AB-Unlimited). That might cause problems as many larger vessels only take AB Limited and Unlimited.
If you’re thinking of eventially getting an unlimited tonnage license, tery to get your time on vessels over 200 GRT. Time under 200 GRT can’t be used for an unlimited license.[/QUOTE]
I thought SOME of the time can be time on smaller GRT? In fact, in another thread, someone pointed out that you could spend three years on your sailboat to get an unlimited AB. It causes problems when you need an RFPNW, but I’m not planning to spend three years on small dinner boats! Anyway, this question is why I posted here. Does this time count for anything?
[QUOTE=MariaW;118132]I thought SOME of the time can be time on smaller GRT? In fact, in another thread, someone pointed out that you could spend three years on your sailboat to get an unlimited AB. It causes problems when you need an RFPNW, but I’m not planning to spend three years on small dinner boats! Anyway, this question is why I posted here. Does this time count for anything?[/QUOTE]
You can always check out the checklist on the NMC web site, which covers all the AB options. It is true that there is no technical tonnage requirement on an AB Unlimted according to the checklist, but all the time must be Oceans or Near Coastal. It is unlikely his dinner cruise boat will be doing NC time.
[QUOTE=MariaW;118132]I thought SOME of the time can be time on smaller GRT? In fact, in another thread, someone pointed out that you could spend three years on your sailboat to get an unlimited AB. It causes problems when you need an RFPNW, but I’m not planning to spend three years on small dinner boats! Anyway, this question is why I posted here. Does this time count for anything?[/QUOTE]
In short yes the days count on the smaller tonnage vessels for an AB special or AB unlimited. It’s just going to take you three years no matter what tonnage to get an AB unlimited. However if you spent your time on a vessel over 100 GRT you would have an AB limited in half the time it takes for an AB unlimited. Preferably if you had time on a vessel over 200 tons all of your sea time from then on would count towards an Unlimited deck license.
[QUOTE=MariaW;118132]I thought SOME of the time can be time on smaller GRT? In fact, in another thread, someone pointed out that you could spend three years on your sailboat to get an unlimited AB. It causes problems when you need an RFPNW, but I’m not planning to spend three years on small dinner boats! Anyway, this question is why I posted here. Does this time count for anything?[/QUOTE]
Again. It gets your foot in the door so you can build up to bigger boats. It gives you “boat” experience so you will have an edge over people fresh off the street. It gives you time to get AB special which you can use to move up.
Well, I could be spending my time trying to get another job on a vessel larger than 200 GRT, or I could be picky about which “dinner boat” company to try to get a job with. In my area, I think a few of the tour boats are larger than 200 GRT.
Sea time on smaller boats is not worthless, but if you want to go offshore, current regulations are written in a way that will not give you much credit. I am in that boat right now. I have an AB Special and want to upgrade, but if earn your AB special on boats under 100GT on inland or near coastal waters NONE of that time will count towards a Limited or Unlimited, which is what you are going to need if you want to work big ships offshore. You will have to earn an additional 540 days on vessels over 100GT for a Limited or an additional 1080 days for the Unlimited ticket. Sad to say you are better off as far as rapid advancement working as an OS on a big boat, hardly ever touching a line or standing wheel watch than you would be working on a smaller vessel where you might actually get a chance to learn some seamanship.
I should also mention that getting on a vessel that voyages past the Col Regs Demarcation line is a big bonus. Otherwise you limit yourself. The NMC checklist for AB details this.
[QUOTE=MariaW;118141]Well, I could be spending my time trying to get another job on a vessel larger than 200 GRT, or I could be picky about which “dinner boat” company to try to get a job with. In my area, I think a few of the tour boats are larger than 200 GRT.[/QUOTE]
I don’t understand why you consider your time so valuable. A good reputation and a good network on the waterfront is likely worth the time spend even if the sea time is less then optimum.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;118150]I don’t understand why you consider your time so valuable. A good reputation and a good network on the waterfront is likely worth the time spend even if the sea time is less then optimum.[/QUOTE]
Because although I look 15 years younger than I am, I don’t have much time left in my working life according to U.S. standards, and this country suffers heavily from ageism, so I have to make my decisions carefully to optimize my time. Age on paper seems to be more important than physical capability and health. If I had heard about NOAA corps before I was 42, for example, I would have joined up. Sounds like a real sweet deal. Unfortunately they do a bad job of advertising their existence. From comments and complaints on gcaptain, I surmise this is probably on purpose… but I digress.