OOW (Unlimited) to Chief Mate (<3000 GT)

[Bowline]

I've heard from someone that if you have OOW Unilimted you don't need any extra seatime to get Chief Mate <3000GT. Does anyone know if this is true or what the arrangements are? having Chief Mate <3000GT could be useful for working on yachts during leave.

[ETwhat?]

I had a feeling that it was sometinhg like OOW unlimited, chief <3000, master <500 but i may be wrong, What sort of yacht experience do you have as that will be the key thing in getting some time, unless its very small yachts at which point almost all of the training for OOW is totally irrelevant

[ETwhat?]

sorry you need 6 months sea time inbetween each and another oral http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/stc-cd-mgn092-table2.pdf shows the progression route

[Squareleg28]

How hard is it to get into super yachts for engineers and elecs?

[ETwhat?]

its hugely image aware so being a course greasey engineer is not goign to win them over, but the advantage for engineers is that your down below never seen and also if you can work on one diesel engine you can work on them all (to some extent) where as boat handling etc is very different as is the level of up keep on deck. there is a decent demand for good electricians especially with av/ computer systems as well as the ship stuff,
however the work is considerably harder than anything on a 'ship'

[Squareleg28]

Why is the work much harder, is it because there is less guys to look after the kit? Longer periods aboard?

[YoungMariner]

A lot of work in superyachts at the moment, in fact massive amounts for electricians, engineers and moderately so for deckies. The other route from OOW Unlimited, is if you have 12 months seatime post ticket, you can apply for a Chief Mate 3000(Y) endorsement, no further orals necessary.

[ETwhat?]

the work is harder as generally theres less space, time and people to get the work done theres also the image aspect, you cant drip oil on the deck scratch the paint or do anything obvious when people are on board, from the deck side varnishing and painting are skills like no other,
and certainly the work and hours are a lot longer, (granted you may not be doing watches) but its easily work from 8am till midnight again it depends on what size and type of yacht you go for, 50+m motorboats have more people and are run like ships a 50m sailing yacht will maybe have 7/8 crew with maybe a sole engineer and a bosun
once you get down to the 30m stuff it gets more single role except for the deck hands.

yes its good fun and as a lifestyle it beats cruiseships, especially if the owners arent onboard but the reason it pays well is that otherwise no one would do it and if your getting twice the salary its probably becasue your not getting a rotation

[YoungMariner]

Well, I was working 2:1 on an 80m yacht for 3 years, and my salary increased 3 fold from what I was earning on the cruise ships with one of the highest paying cruise lines. From 70-160m yachts, rotation varies between 4:2 to 2:2, and salaries go from moderate to high. Charter Tips are excellent. If your on a privately owned yacht, you can spend your time sat alongside somewhere nice working mon-fri 9-5, on a charter vessel you work your arse off but you get great bonuses.
Ships are ships, and the large yachts are just the same, except with a coating of fairing over the paintwork to smooth out the imperfections. Most are still commercial vessels, classed, surveyed, drydocked and maintained as you would any other vessel. Same job, different day.

[ETwhat?]

I've a couple of friends engineering on big yachts and they get similar, around 2:1 depending on what is happening and certainly the benifits of it are good. While i dont overly plan a return i wouldnt rule it out, good way to get the house paid off