So I know I have writing a lot of stuff about yachts on here lately.
I was trying to steer away from them as I don’t have a license yet and was thinking of going back one day in the future because with a third engineer unlimited license I could sail chief on a superyacht no problem.
Today I got a phone call from a yacht captain in Fort Lauderdale offering me a three month position as the sole engineer on yacht that will be going to New England (for the most part you don’t need a license to be a yacht engineer).
Now I am really tempted to go because all of my yacht work has been only daywork and I have sort of wanted to try a short 1 week trip or something.
The problem is, I don’t think this will count as sea time at all towards getting a third engineer’s license. Someone told me it does, or it might…
Again my position on the yacht would be ‘engineer’ and I don’t know the horsepower yet.
Seatime on foreign vessels certainly does count (All those oil rigs and large oil field construction vessels are foreign flag). Seatime on yachts, and/or on foreign vessels, is sometimes viewed with suspicion by the USCG because it can be easily fudged, and can be difficult to verify, but as long as it it properly documented in the proper form it should ultimately be accepted.
A certain amount of engine room seatime (I think three months) can be used toward a deck license and vice versa. Many of us who have small vessel (fishing boat, tug, yacht, crew boat, etc.) experience have been “deckineers” or unlicensed deckhand/engineers at some point along the way. Small vessel owners and captains usually appreciate people with some engine room experience. Most of being a yacht engineer is just checking fluids, keeping an eye out for problems, routine tasks like changing impellers, and cleaning and polishing — lots of cleaning and polishing. I’m not sure what the minimum horsepower might be for seatime to count toward a USCG QMED or engineering license, or for the MCA yacht engineer license that many yachts seem to prefer. Someone else on gcaptain will know about that.
This is a great time of year to go to New England on a yacht. It will be fun and a very different experience than hanging around in Ft. Liquordale.
The sea time should count even being foriegn flag, as long as they write the sea time letter up stating your position as a watch standing engineer or a qmed, both would count toward your 3a/e time. One problem you might run into sailing on smaller boats, if you get to much time on a vessel under 1600 GRT or under 10,000 HP, they will put a tonnage and HP restricition on your 3a/e license when you get it. I think 25 percent or it may even be 33 percent can be on small vessels. I can’t quote the cfr exactly on that one. Also I don’t think time on something under 200 GRT will count at all toward a unimited tonnage license.
The engineering license structure is spelled out in 46CFR subchapter E, sections 10.501 through 10.555. google it everything should come up for you. This should help you out.
Chapter 1 of the MSM, foreign time counts day for day.
As long as it is over 100 tons, tonnage is irrelevant to engineering licenses. It’s all about time and HP. Your service doesn’t have to be over 10K HP to get U/L, but has to add up to 10K with their formulae so it does need to be around 6,100. Once you get U/L HP you only need 4000HP time to keep it.