DP maintenance

[CompetentSailor]

Hi every one, i'm wondering If anyone can help me out, I am recently qualified eoow, sailing on dp2 PSV, I constantly hear about people talking about a dp maintenance course, as far as I am aware my company will not pay for it. The system I have on board is kongsberg. i have been on their site but they offer many courses, mostly aimed at ETO, and I hear about some book that needs to be stamped with DP seatime in order to recieve the certificate ...

I am not sure how accurate the information I have been given is, so if someone is able to clear everything up I would really appreciate it.

I am looking to fund this course myself if it exist, as long as I get the correct one.

thanks in advance everyone

[chris]

I think youre talking about two different things.

The book that needs to be stamped with DP seatime is for the deckies DP operator courses, and the DP maintenance course can be taken by anyone with a knowledge of electrics.

The big question at the moment is whether to take the Kongsberg SDP maintenance course or the Kongsberg KPOS course, SDP being the older DP system found on many ships and KPOS being the newer one.

[Dinosaur]

I found the SDP maintenance course to be of very little value, I have learnt far more by actually working on the system and reading the manuals. Having said that if you are expected to maintain the DP then your company should pay for it, if not then it’s probably a waste of money as you won’t get any hands on experience after completing the course.

[chris]

Ive seen an old training book for the SDP course and I'd agree with you Dinosaur, but I'd probably pay for the course if I was applying for an offshore job that required it. Always better if someone else pays for it though.

[CompetentSailor]

Thanks guys, by the looks of things, it seems it will benifit you ETOs more than me, and yes dinosaur your right, ussually if somthing goes we end up geting contractors on board to fix it :-/, its quite dissapointing tho, because i am a very hand on person, i like to try and fix thing myself rather than get someone else to maintain it.

I was thinking about going on dp2 survey ships within the next year, but i imagine they all will carry ETO, so maybe i will hold out a bit before i go for the course, thanks to all for clearing things up !

[chris]

No worries. I've heard of Chief Engineers requiring the DP maintenance course for ships that dont carry ETOs, as their electrics knowledge is supposed to be at the same level (the new ETO CoC is based on Chiefs Electro technology).