Captain's / Master's license?

[7tiger7]

Any here have a Capt / Master's license? Tonnage? I've been thinking of getting one, perhaps through Sea School in Charleston SC.
Thoughts?

 

[FF]

It is mostly useful if you want to deliver other folks boats for money.

I think you can get the 6 pack paper over the phone these days?

 

[Gulf Comanche]

I am considering the same. I looked on the CG website, you can download all the paperwork. What then, besides filling out the paperwork?

 

[JohnP]

Back in the day you had to go to the CG and take a written test.

You had to have written documentation of your experience.

And you had to update and prove you were still in the game every few years.

I regret letting mine lapse--boat deliveries interest me.

JohnP

 

[Doc]

I just let my 100 ton, 5th issue, expire. I first got it in 1981. Never used it except to get a little break on insurance. I attended a school, passed the test at the CG office and hung it on the wall. It was a good experience.
The reason I let it go was because of the post 9-11 BS that required all sorts requirements of Identifying me as being me...and the extra cost of finding out that I was me.

 

[boatdriver47]

You are in Boston so check out boatwise.com all the rules for licenseing are there and I think the site is more user friendly than USCG. Boatwise is a marine training company for which I work from time to time, But Boston is not my area, so no gain to me. The owners are based just up the road in NH if you want to talk in person. The information on the site is of course free.

 

[O C Diver]

FF wrote:

It is mostly useful if you want to deliver other folks boats for money.

I think you can get the 6 pack paper over the phone these days?

There is a tad more to it. Information can be found here:

USCG licencing

Here is a basic check list:

Check list
Been more involved now than when I started in the early '80s.
Ted

*

 

[skipperdude]

Don't forget you have to take a P test so study hard.

SD

 

[Art]

Howdy - Thought I'd chime in!

Mariners Learning System

http://www.marinerslearningsystem.c...iners-school&gclid=CICb4KfoxqcCFQsGbAodBlavDg

Tough course that covers all parameters... from study in it I feel it really has the right stuff... I grew up on the Atlantic coast from NY to Maine, early 1950' thru mid 1970's. One of my first memories is falling off a LI, NY dock at a boatyard before I could hardly even walk! After 25 years on the water, I took 25 + year break form living on and around sal****er. Been back into boating on Pacific Coast / SF Bay area for few years, LOVE IT!! Don't plan to stop boating again, at least not Till Davy Jones Claims Me Bones" - ARUGGG! Kidding aside after 25 years off the water my brain-joints had become a mite corroded LOL... so I decided to get licensed. Well anyway... Ill be happy when I get my license and I recommend Mariners Learning System as a relatively affordable but very good study course. BTW Boarding and again Mastering a boat after 25 years on land is similar to riding a bike (or doing certain verrrry joyful items with your wife) you just never forget the fun and best training lessons youve already learned! Did I say... I LOVE IT! ... Both boating and my wife! Till Davy Jones Claims Me Bones" - ARUGGG!

Due to busy family and business life I've studied but not yet taken the CG test yet... plan to before mid Sept - when I'd need to re up in the course if my test has not been taken by then. I'm enrolled for OUPV Six/Pack and 100 Ton Masters.

Cheers! - Art

 

[Avista]

I dropped mine some time ago for several reasons: 1. The insurance discount wasn't much. 2. I stopped delivering boats years ago. 3. No longer run charter boats, and don't want to. 4. I didn't want to get a TWIC card. 5. Most importantly, my buddy who is a Maritime attorney told me that although there is a lot of disagreement about this, conceivably a licensed operator could be held to a greater degree of liability if involved in an incident that goes to trial, even in a recreational accident not involving the Coast Guard.


-- Edited by Avista on Friday 11th of March 2011 10:11:30 AM

 

[koliver]

Marc:

I think you may have misinterpreted your maritime Attorney's advice. You will not be held to a higher standard with a license than with the same training and experience but lacking the license. The keyword is negligence.
If you get your self involved in a marine accident, it will be partly your fault, however you slice it. (if it happens, someone failed to keep an adequate lookout).
With current certification you will have a better chance to avoid the situation and the potential for a claim than if you let your skills and knowledge slip. So keeping the license is just proof that you think about keeping your skill level up to a measurable standard.

 

[blacksheep]

I got a six pac license in the late 80's and it was a fairly tough course at that time,I renewed it twice and then let it go as I wasn't using it.It was a fun thing getting the license!I went to a class at a community college in Fla and we had 40 class members most were guides who needed license due to crack down on them with no license by marine patrol.I think the trouble was 1 had a ticket and was complaining about unlicensed guides getting the trips.Ha This was in Suwannee,Fla.We had to get a physical and they brought in a drug testing lab for that part.License was worth getting due to the learning process we went thru to get it.

 

[Moondance]

I received my Six Pack license about two years ago. I did Mariner's Learning Service. It's all on line. I read the printed materials sent first, then went online and took the class with videos in some sections and then the practice tests. I went to Princeton, NJ to take the final CG test at Mariner's classroom.*

I did the course on my own time, but I was very organized and disciplined about doing it. The weeklong classes might be better for some people because that forces you to go to the class and get it done.

You need a physical, sea service time documentation, eye exam, drug test and 3 character references, in addition to the tests.

The plotting test is tough. But it is all worth learning. Everything in the course is valuable. I wanted to do it for the experience and I liked the challenge. I am a better seaman for it.

Last season I did a few charters on my Grady, to help pay some dockage bills. I fish all the time. I love to fish. So chartering is fun for me at this point. I don't need or want to do it as a living, but as a side-job. I can pick and choose my clients.

I am now in the process of getting my towing endorsement and my 100 ton Masters. Thankful that these do not require another plotting exam.

It's ridiculous that any licensed Captain, whose finger prints are already on file, then has to pay an additional $130 or so to get a TWIC card. Just another way to get money for nothing.


Oh, yes, another thing - New York State DEC hits you again for a fishing license for the boat and all passengers $400. and $250 for the DEC charter boat license to operate in State waters.


Everybody has their hand out.





-- Edited by Moondance on Friday 11th of March 2011 11:42:04 AM

-- Edited by Moondance on Friday 11th of March 2011 11:44:30 AM

-- Edited by Moondance on Friday 11th of March 2011 11:45:03 AM

 

[BelfastCruiser]

One perk of having the license is a reduction in insurance cost. I'm glad I got mine because in the process I relearned a lot I had long ago forgot. Maybe this time it will stick!
Belfast Cruiser - 50Ton Master

 

[yachtbrokerguy]

I got a 100 ton license in 1973 before all of the courses and schools were available, the test was difficult then and much more difficult now. The test is multible choice and a lot of it is strictly memory, you can find the 4000 questions on line with the correct answers. For my last two renewels I did not have enough documented sea time with notarized statements from the boat owners and I had to take the open book take home exam. After 36 years of being licensed, over 30 trips between Florida and the Northeast, hundreds of different boats run, hundreds of sea trials, many, many local deliveries, over 75 thousand passenges carried, it was still hard to take the test. The questions covered many things that were not pratical items learned from experience but from learning the books.
I went through STCW training and have a TWIC card but I have a professional reason to keep the license active.

 

[Arctic Traveller]

yachtbrokerguy wrote:

I got a 100 ton license in 1973 before all of the courses and schools were available, the test was difficult then and much more difficult now.

I'm not sure about the Uninspected Passenger Vessel ticket, but Tucker is right, it's a long hard road to a USCG license, and getting harder all the time.* Not to mention expensive, but well worth it.* I'm currently trying to decide if upgrading to 1600 ton is a worthwhile investment at this point in my life.* It would be good to have, but with all the additional classes I'll need, the pay back may be too long........Arctic Traveller

*

 

[dwhatty]

My son has a 1600 ton license with towing endorsement that he had to renew a few months back. Even with scads of recent documented commercial sea time he had a very frustrating and time consuming renewal process experience. He had to do it because his livelihood depends upon his license and says he would not have done it otherwise.

 

[Delfin]

Arctic Traveller wrote:

I'm currently trying to decide if upgrading to 1600 ton is worthwhile at this point in my life.**Jeff, I've met you and you don't weigh anywhere near 1600 ton.* Quite trim as I recall.

When do you leave for Hawaii to pick up the Nordhavn?

*

 

[Arctic Traveller]

Delfin wrote:
Jeff, I've met you and you don't weigh anywhere near 1600 ton.* Quite trim as I recall.

Gee, I didn't think you needed glasses, but perhaps you should think about a check-up

As for Hawaii, mid May.* Just prior, I'll be bringing the Scorpius to Cap Sante for the Passagemaker show, will you be around?.................Arctic Traveller

 

[Delfin]

Arctic Traveller wrote:

As for Hawaii, mid May.* Just prior, I'll be bringing the Scorpius to Cap Sante for the Passagemaker show, will you be around?.................Arctic Traveller

You bet.* In fact, any of our friends on TF that are around, please visit D29, our home berth at Cap Sante on the main dock of TrawlerFest.* I will supply the Maker's Mark, if you all supply the b.s. stories about your boating adventures!

You'll be able to pick out Jeff in the crowd.* He's the guy who weighs 1600 tons!!!

See you then---

*

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

I hold a 1600 ton master of motor/steam vessels and master of towing vessels oceans route (9th issue). Original license was 25 ton near Coastal in 1983. The renewal process has gotten easier in the last year after being a nightmare for the previous 5 years. Now all the documentation is reviewed and evaluated by a central source in West Virginia. This has made things much easier IMHO. There still remains the usual documentation hassles required by the Coast Guard. A six pack license is a worthwhile endeavor. If anybody is considering it , my advice would be to do it sooner rather than later. As in most programs, regulations continue to get more stringent as time goeas by.
Most of the smaller license can be obtained without testing at the Coast Guard. The many prep classes will administer the test at the end of their classes. You should have your paperwork submitted and approved before you take the class. I spend anywhere from 175-225 days at sea each year and it seems that at each renewal time something in the renewal process has changed. Staying up on the changes is confusing.

 

[Sortie]

I hold a 100Ton Masters near coastal,just had the 8th issue. First issue was in 1980 for a 50Ton.* I concurwithSailor of Fortune, new process is far less complicated and streamline then previous. There are indeed requirements and regulations for holding the "ticket". They are,good bad or whatever, part of the cost for the ticket. They include, TWIC cards and drug testing and keeping up with the changes in the industry. If you are going to use your ticket and think they regulations are offensive, well don't have a ticket. What I find to be offensive is people saying "I don't use my ticket,therefore I should be punished by being forced to meet the requirements".

The facts are that the purpose of the license is for commercial use/applications not to hang as a trophy. Given that purpose,one has to expect there will always be new regulations,as in any other profession. There is no doubt in my mind, based on experience and time, that the holder of USCG Merchant license will be held to a higher standard then a non holder. If not held to a higher standard, why have the license? If you want to believe you are not being held to a higher standard, you are just fooling yourself.

If you want the license/ticket go for it. Just understand the requirements and consequences that are inherit with the license.

John

 

[Arctic Traveller]

Sortie wrote:I concurwithSailor of Fortune, new process is far less complicated and streamline then previous.

In years past, one could call up a regional exam center, and ask questions about a renewal or upgrade.* Each center seemed to have a different way to interpret the regulations, and if you didn't get an answer you liked, you could simply call another center.* If you liked their answer, that was the place you submitted your application, since that was where the license would be issued.* That's all in the past now, as all license applications are reviewed at the same place.* For several years, they had trouble getting up to speed and issuing licenses in a timely fashion, but now it seems they have gotten their act together for the most part.* Is the application process less complicated though?* I'm not sure about that one, but I do know it's a lot of work, and the process is ever changing. Despite that, I say go for the license, it's very rewarding, and who knows what great adventures could result?.................Arctic Traveller

*

 

[FF]

The questions covered many things that were not pratical items learned from experience but from learning the books.

What do you expect from Burorats?

Interesting that simply showing my 100T (35+years expired) is enough for most owners to give you the keys.