Long time lurker first time poster. I began my sailing journey 10 years ago as a recreational sailor in SF BAY. Since then I have worked on 90 ton passenger ferries and most recently a 2000 ton research vessel carrying a submarine. I have 350 days on the passenger ferries and 120 days on the research vessel. All my time was in the engine room.
My question, can any of my time be used to get a mate/master license? I would love to have a 25/50 ton mate or master license.
I’ve used engine time towards deck in the past. It varies by license you are applying for. Go to the national maritime center and look at the checklist for the license you want. It will specify how much engine time you can use towards the license. It may be 90 days, a quarter of the total time, etc…
Which deck license did you use the time for? I went to the checklist and I see you can use engine room time to satisfy the recency requirement for up to 90 days for masters near costal 25/50/100t. But those all require 720 days sea time and after the 90 would still require 630 days on deck which I don’t have. OUPV aka 6 pack seems to just require being on a boat in any capacity for 360 days. Guess this is my only option, which might be fun to get just to have. Although even pontoon boats doing quick boat trips require 25 ton nowadays. I definitely will just study for the test myself and take the test at a REC.