[QUOTE=Tugted;195346]If I could find a job that payed me the $$ I make out here & work half the year on land, sign me up. Being a businessman who travels Monday-Friday or close to that & only being home on weekends would suck. I like to hunt & fish on weekdays when there’s no crowd & do odds & inns on the weekends.[/QUOTE]
This is what many people that have nice gigs on the water don’t understand. Grass is always greener on the other side, right? How about 2 weeks of vacation a year, always on the phone, emails at night, gone during the week…1-2 hour commute each day (or each way). You’d be salaried, so no pay for overtime. Emails/calls on the weekend. Having to fly on airlines and deal with TSA all the time (and fat people that don’t fit in their seats). Been there, done that. Going to sea is much better. Of course, this is really talking about engineers, since it’s much easier to find an equivalent paying job shore side LOL.
Thanks for all the good responses! Makes me feel better. And i agree, going to the same job 9-5…i have about a 3 month tolerance till i want to off myself…lol. Guess thats why we’re sailors.
Guys I really appreciate the good responses. Makes me feel better. I don’t really feel like I have a choice whether I work 28/14 or equal time at this point, Im currently working for pop yachts selling boats and r/v’s, and trying to make it as a marine surveyor but it’s tough sledding. I’ve been in the red for a year and a half. Hell, I even joined the ARMY as an E4 specialist, Infantry with a Ranger contract, hoping to follow in my grandfather footsteps, but was medically discharged 8 weeks into basic training. So, it’s been a helluva roller-coaster ride since the oilfield crash. At this point I’ll take what I can get offshore. Right now, i feel like my best bet is if i can get on a tug somewhere as an A/B (i have a 2nd mate unlimited with full dpo) And hopefully get my towing endorsement. So, we’ll see what happens. Boats are all I know! I dont know how to adapt to anything else.
One of my friends was making $500 a day as a mate. He’s now driving a local truck for $250 a day and home every night. Another guy has a nice local yachting gig. One of my former engineers is running the boiler at a local hospital and home every night. Another has a $80,000 in a shoreside fish plant. Another engineer has a new $100,000 a year job as a food processing equipment service technician, and is home most nights.
The average construction worker in the US makes about $25 an hour. Some places a lot more and other places a lot less. Unskilled union laborers start at more than $25 plus good benefits. Skilled workers make more.
I know most probably don’t want to hear this, but if you are willing to hustle, you can clear $100K a year cutting grass full time in just about any urban/suburban area in the US. Once you get your equipment paid off, you can do very well. I just don’t want to cut grass and mulch flower beds 8-10 hours a day and weekends. But the work is there and it ain’t going away, in fact only growing all the time.
[QUOTE=Tugted;195346]I like to hunt & fish on weekdays when there’s no crowd & do odds & inns on the weekends.[/QUOTE]
That’s why I opted for early normal retirement. But it can be pure hell. Duck season is over and spring turkey season is a few weeks off.
[QUOTE=ItsJody;195385]Hallelujah for spring turkey season.[/QUOTE]
It’s not a job so much as its a lifestyle. I got addicted to the time off, and boy am I ever enjoying it right now. Still trying to figure out how to clone myself so I can stay home and let the clone do the straight time. It’s always wild turkey 101 season down here in south Texas.
[QUOTE=Deftsound;195365] Im currently working for pop yachts selling boats and r/v’s, and trying to make it as a marine surveyor but it’s tough sledding.[/QUOTE]
POP yachts is a scam. “Marine Surveyor” on small pleasure boats are for the most part, brain dead (If they had a brain, they’d be working as a mechanic or surveyor on ships making a ton more). With 2nd Unlim, there’s potential out there, but you will have to MOVE to the jobs. Jobs don’t fall in your lap. But, I know it’s not easy for deckies. Lots of guys workign on training ships in the summer because it’s slow.
As for making money and the waste of $$ going to college (for history degrees), I saw this posting last week:
“The Dominion Power Generation business unit seeks a highly motivated Maintenance Operator Trainees (Mechanical) to support the day-to-day operation of the Greensville County Power Station The starting pay rate is $19.32 per hour and increases through each step in the 56-month development program, to an upper rate of $39.88 per hour.” Target is 18yr old high school grads or folks with GED.
[QUOTE=johnny.dollar;195409]POP yachts is a scam. “Marine Surveyor” on small pleasure boats are for the most part, brain dead (If they had a brain, they’d be working as a mechanic or surveyor on ships making a ton more). With 2nd Unlim, there’s potential out there, but you will have to MOVE to the jobs. Jobs don’t fall in your lap. But, I know it’s not easy for deckies. Lots of guys workign on training ships in the summer because it’s slow.
As for making money and the waste of $$ going to college (for history degrees), I saw this posting last week:
“The Dominion Power Generation business unit seeks a highly motivated Maintenance Operator Trainees (Mechanical) to support the day-to-day operation of the Greensville County Power Station The starting pay rate is $19.32 per hour and increases through each step in the 56-month development program, to an upper rate of $39.88 per hour.” Target is 18yr old high school grads or folks with GED.[/QUOTE]
You’d be surprised. I charge 20$ a foot, and around here there is no shortage of 30-40’ sea-rays, chris-crafts and all manner of yachts. The hard part is getting my foot in the door.
I applied for and Engineer training program, driving trains, because that is one of the few things I don’t have a license for. I have my Captains license, Airlines transport pilots license, Commercial Helicopter license. Nasa Certified Inspector, Real Estate License, Certified Weather Observer, Control Tower Operators License, Helicopter Mechanic, FAA Accident Prevention Counselor. Aviation Safety Counselor, certified in all phases of non destructing testing and on and on. So when I submitted my resume they told me that they had applicants that were better qualified but thanks for applying. So I asked them, I can fly the Largest airplane every made, I can fly multi engine Jet Helicopters and I am a boat Captain. Please tell me what I need to do to become a more viable candidate to be an engineer trainee. They failed to respond. Those train guys must be a real special breed, especially when they can find one that doesn’t text and crash.
[QUOTE=skycowboy;195486]So when I submitted my resume they told me that they had applicants that were better qualified but thanks for applying. So I asked them, I can fly the Largest airplane every made, I can fly multi engine Jet Helicopters and I am a boat Captain. Please tell me what I need to do to become a more viable candidate to be an engineer trainee. They failed to respond. Those train guys must be a real special breed, especially when they can find one that doesn’t text and crash.[/QUOTE]
They probably meant you’re too likely to quit and go back to one of the other industries your certified in as soon as the market improves.
[QUOTE=skycowboy;195486]I applied for and Engineer training program, driving trains, because that is one of the few things I don’t have a license for. I have my Captains license, Airlines transport pilots license, Commercial Helicopter license. Nasa Certified Inspector, Real Estate License, Certified Weather Observer, Control Tower Operators License, Helicopter Mechanic, FAA Accident Prevention Counselor. Aviation Safety Counselor, certified in all phases of non destructing testing and on and on. So when I submitted my resume they told me that they had applicants that were better qualified but thanks for applying. So I asked them, I can fly the Largest airplane every made, I can fly multi engine Jet Helicopters and I am a boat Captain. Please tell me what I need to do to become a more viable candidate to be an engineer trainee. They failed to respond. Those train guys must be a real special breed, especially when they can find one that doesn’t text and crash.[/QUOTE]
Dude, don’t ever tell any prospective employer you have a CG issued master’s ticket and an ATP unless you’re applying for a job with Jimmy Buffet. They’ll look at you like you have two heads. You have to pretend you’re the dumb ass they want to hire.
[QUOTE=Lee Shore;195491]Dude, don’t ever tell any prospective employer you have a CG issued master’s ticket and an ATP unless you’re applying for a job with Jimmy Buffet. They’ll look at you like you have two heads. You have to pretend you’re the dumb ass they want to hire.[/QUOTE]
Jimmy Buffet used to drop his daughter off on Monday mornings at my airport and pick her up on Friday afternoons to go home for the weekend. Talked to him all the time, great guy, I have pictures of his Widgeon that he crashed and almost drowned in.
I remember showing up for my first deckhand job. The on coming Captain and off Going Captain were on the bridge when I went to sign on. They both looked at me very nervously as they asked who I was. I told them I was the new employee. They both looked at each other real nervous like and said what position are you, and I said I’m a deck hand. They both breathed a sigh of relief and said we thought maybe you were here to replace one of us. I said why was that, They said we’ve never had a deckhand show up dressed as nice as you. I told them I was always told to dress for the job you want, and not for the job you have. Two hitches later I was promoted to Captain… But that Dam train Engineers job keeps eluding me.
