Kit list for first sea phase?

[kris]

Hi guys I have my first sea phase coming up in a week and just wanted to know what i should be taking with me and how much of it? thanks

Thread Approved

[Randomist]

Hey there Kris,

What you must take with you largely depends on what ships you're on. Eg a Cruise ship cadet will have to take a lot more uniform than your average cargo ship cadet.

But in general:

All uniform you're required to have and that won't be supplied onboard.
Casual clothes
Your preferred toiletries (never know when you'll next be able to get another bottle of Dove Men + Care )
DVD's/External Hard Drive
Portfolio
Folder for Reports
LAPTOP!!!

Required Documents:
Discharge Book
ENG1 Medical Certificate
Originals of All Certificates required (Basic FF, Medical First Aid etc)

There must be some more stuff that I haven't put down because I usually have a massive list of stuff I take with me but that's all I can think of at the mo.

[YoungMariner]

You'll probably need a lot less then you think. Clothes wise, plenty of underwear, but you dont need your whole wardrobe of other clothes. Doesn't matter if you wear the same designer t-shirt twice, plus all have the same colour and look the same after a washes in the ships laundry facilities.

And with the advent of technology, if you can bring a kindle with loads of books on, you can save a lot of lugging around. I've done month long trips with a single hand carry case.

[Clanky]

There are a few things which will effect how much stuff you need...

As above what kind of ship you will be on, if you are going onto a posh cruise ship you will need all of the uniform that you have been supplied with, if you are going onto a dredger you won't need as much.

On a cruise ship you will be able to buy stuff like toiletries while on some ships you might be able to get ashore and top up, on other ships you will need to take enough to last your entire trip.

Take as many boilersuits with you as you can, most ships keep a supply of boilersuits, but if you are not a standard size they may not have any and if you are a standard size everyone else will have got them before you.

As much underwear as you can fit into your bag, it is amazing how often you end up changing and showering in a day especially if it is hot outside.

How much you need in the way of personal clothes will again depend on what type of ship and where it is trading.

Don't forget to bring chargers for any electrical equipment that you take with you, a mobile phone is as much use as a chocolate fire guard if the battery is flat.

Passport

Discharge Book

ENG1 Medical Certificate

Originals of all Certificates such as fire fighting, first aid, sea survival (or whatever they call it these days)

A laptop if you have one (don't forget the power supply / charger)

A sense of humour.

[danielbv07]

With regards uniform items, any ideas what you could expect to be wearing on a day to day basis as a deck cadet on a bulk carrier?

[gadget123]

With regards uniform items, any ideas what you could expect to be wearing on a day to day basis as a deck cadet on a bulk carrier?

Depends largely on the company. some companies want full uniform some don't care, on one of my ship i just worse shorts and flip flops on the bridge, and a coverall and boots on deck.

[kris]

ty for the replies Just another quick question who decides when i come off the ship? I mean i would like to do around 4 months to the end of april but i havnt told anyone this, so how do i go about coming off the ship do i inform the captain or my company or what? As i would be getting off in another country do i need to let them know in advance to book my plane tickets? And how far in advance? Thanks

[Clanky]

As a first trip cadet you will most likely be spending a significant proportion of your time on deck, so you will be in a boilersuit for much of your working day, Depending on the company your time spent on the bridge could be either in a boilersuit, uniform or personal clothes, and again depending on the company meals could be either in uniform or personal clothes.

If you can ask your company for info before you go it will help you decide what to pack, other wise I would take a quite a few uniform shirts, a couple of pairs of trousers, a jumper if there is any chance that you could be going somewhere cold and around a weeks worth of personal clothes.

[alistairuk]

ty for the replies Just another quick question who decides when i come off the ship? I mean i would like to do around 4 months to the end of april but i havnt told anyone this, so how do i go about coming off the ship do i inform the captain or my company or what? As i would be getting off in another country do i need to let them know in advance to book my plane tickets? And how far in advance? Thanks

Your company will decide when you are leaving the vessel, so if you have a reason that requires you back in 4 months you should ensure your company is aware before you go - most will provide an estimated date which is subject to change. It is normal to get flight details a week (or even the day) before leaving the ship.

[Fionelo]

DVD's/External Hard Drive

LAPTOP!!!

If you forget these, you're in for a loooooooooooong 4 months

[jc173]

I certainly know with my company you don't know about your offloading until 2 weeks or so before your due off!
Approx 4 months transpired into nearly 5 for me... but Laptop & External Hard Drive!

[Lewis]

Passport

Discharge Book

ENG1 Medical Certificate

Originals of all Certificates such as fire fighting, first aid, sea survival (or whatever they call it these days)

take 2 copies leave one in safe place at home and carry the other in a different bag from the originals.

[Clanky]

That's a good point Lewis. I have all my certificates scanned into my laptop, but I always carry the originals in my hand luggage as I figure I am less likely to lose that than the baggage handlers in Madrid are to lose my hold bag.

[ETwhat?]

To further what Clanky has said if you have gone to the effort of scanning them in, then email them to yourself on web based email (or use a cloud drive) that way you can get into them regardless of where you are as long as you have internet access,

[Martyboy]

Speakers are an essential I think, Cabins on a ship are strangely sound proofed and laptop speakers aren't good, I used to have my laptop on with the speakers and the bathroom door opened while I was in the shower

An Idea might be to take some blank CD's with you so you can burn some music for the gym, if your a gym bunny that is..... Another think I would recommend is either buy Riggers or take shoe laces. Its a long 3 months when your shoe laces snap and you have to try construct shoe laces from whatever s lying around. Razors, CHEWING GUM! usually tale about 10 packs with me Not sure what college your at, but i'd recommend raiding your colleges moodle for all its worth before going. Make sure you have a gig stick if you take a laptop, so you can write reports and then transfer them to the ships computer for printing, also you can take the digital copies of the deck and engine manuals for the ship in case you need to refer to them in the future..... Or want to read them in your cabin, alarm clock if your not taking your phone. Also... Make sure your phone is set up for international roaming, Calling India, from Australia, Via the Sat Phone, Via a line in the UK... isn't the easiest conversation to have when trying to get roaming activated.....

Thats all I can think of for now