[quote=Mike Bolinger;22169]Some licenced engineers make just as much as captains. if you like the er go for it. I don’t know for sure but it seems like there is alot more to keeping up a captains license nowadays than there is keeping up an engineers license. After you get that ab special try Andrie Inc on the great lakes. they help you get your tankerman and then the pay really goes up. or if you like east coast try bouchard. ab tankerman makes over $400/day there. that is more than i make as an inland towboat captain. vain brothers has also been looking for ab tankerman. $321/day to start.
best wishes
mike[/quote]
When I worked for Crowley, I often made quite a bit more as engineer that the captain did. The Captain’s base pay was higher than the engineer’s, but only by about 10 bucks a day or so. Crowley used to try and have all maneuvering during the 8-12 watch, when the captain was behind the wheel, cutting down on his overtime. Most of their boats have only one engineer, and I also stood the 8-12 watch, however there was quite a bit more overtime to be had for an engineer, needless to say. One of my favorite things to do was, at the end of a trip, go up to the wheelhouse and have the Old Man sign my overtime sheets. Often his (singular) sheet with one or two lines was on the chart table. What also made it even more enjoyable was that I was often the youngest member of the crew, by several years. But I am like that.