Captains License

Those units spin 360 degrees, no rudders. We can go from full speed to full stop in a boat length. Tractor tugs are sweet, just a bit weird learning how to run them.

 

Not cut out for everyone. Some people just cant stay on a boat for that long. Which our company prolly has the shortest tours anywhere. I live close so if we have no work im a home on call. Big plus!

 

if you are looking for work in la most of the crew boats are all less than 100t same with the supply boat i was on a 135ft supply boat that was under 100t base pay starting out with know experince is about 275 a day for 2nd capt most compaines will hire you ad a deckhand first the work you way up 1st capt on the boat i was on was making 525 a day its a great job if you dont mind being gone for a month at a time i would go with supply boat over crew boat much more comfortable

 

Lol.

 

Damn! I wish I was younger when I started this. I have too many things going on to be gone for a month now. Thats some good pay for 100t

 

What do deckhands start off getting paid on a supply boat around here?

 

Some of our older captains are making around 100,000 without working any ot. Pleanty of that lately. There are guys getting 100-200 hours ot a check 15 day pay period.

 

Yeah the most I'd be willing to be gone is a 14/14.....especially since I have a baby on the way and my wife is due in the next few weeks.

 

14/14 is probably a little short, though I'm not sure of the schedules with the smaller boats. 28/14 was the shortest I saw when I was looking last, but it's been a while. Currently I do 70/70, but I'm on bigger ships. I won't do more than 90 on anymore... had a few hitches over 120 and it wasn't much fun. My wife just had our first almost a year ago. I was able to juggle my schedule around so that I was home a week and a half before the birth and then home for two months afterwards. I'm in port regularly though, and we live close enough that they can drive down to visit for a couple of hours.

Oh, and my screws spin opposite

 

Damn thats a long hitch!

 

Ok, somebody school me... what's a hitch?

 

That is the time that you're on the boat.

 

70/70. The heck with that man! That's nuts!!

 

Ha, it feels about right to me. It's long enough to get into a watchstanding routine. We work a three watch schedule, so there are three watchstanding officers, 8x12, 12x4 and 4x8. A typical day for me starts with overtime at 0800 til almost noon. Grab lunch, then head back down for watch from noon til 1600. Knock off at 1600 and grab some sleep, then back down again from midnight til 0400. Grab a nap after 0400 and then wake up in time for breakfast and the day starts over again. It takes a little while to get into rhythm with the schedule. Shorter hitches would mean having to make the adjustment more frequently. When I'm first off the boat my sleep is all over the place.

The nice part about 70/70 is the vacation after a hitch. I'm day for day (I get a vacation day for every day I work). I have plenty of time to do whatever the heck I want. You can do some pretty epic road trips with six months of vacation a year. I put 40k miles on my truck in the first six months of being able to drive it, none of those were commuting miles.

 

I'm jealous of you guys. Feel free to post some more pic!

 

Sean, if you're looking for more info, I'd recommend checking out the forums and job postings at www.gcaptain.com. The forum settings are a little weird in that they don't automatically show older posts, you have to either become a member or search (easiest to become a member). There is a lot of info on the site and a lot of grumpy old sailors who don't always like repeating themselves (just like at work!), so be sure to search before posting up a question. Another site for GOM (Gulf of Mexico) jobs is www.rigzone.com.

Not to totally hijack, but here's some from the first ship I sailed on out of school

This is the weather you want to have off of Somalia, it tends to keep the "fishermen" away:


My wife cleaning a piston from the main engine:


After a piston crown changeout:


Got to go to some really interesting places on that ship:

 

Very cool man. I'm all about photos of interesting things from a perspective not normally seen.

 

I got my 50 ton masters licence and I captain a sportsfishing boat in Sitka Alaska.... I love being the "captain"... get to sit in my tractor seat all day and drink coffee and put dips in my mouth

 

This is my dream job.