Capt license books

Another benefit is with the near coastal offshore route, with 6 pack you can go up to miles offshore and with the Master you can go up to miles offshore! No Tests at the Coast Guard. You will take written final exams administered at MPT at the end of the program. They include a selection of the topics covered in the course. We work with everyone until they pass!

Do not worry. Class participation and study will get you through the exams. One of the bonuses of attending MPT's captains license classes is that we give every student the certification to operate a commercial assistance towing vessel - for free! The USCG authorizes Masters with this certification to operate assistance towing vessels of any size within their tonnage and Six-Packers to operate assistance towing vessels of up to 26 feet.

MPT has always been known for going the extra mile, and this course is no exception. Our courses are success oriented with unbeatable pass rates. View All Courses. Enroll Today. With classes all year round, we're sure to fit your schedule.

Get to Know Our School. The Medical form CGK is the most extensive form one will need to complete. It also requires the signature of a licensed physician. Your family doctor is acceptable. For my part, I completed as much of the form as was reasonable.

I then FAXed the form ahead of my annual physical so that the doctor could review what was needed and to be prepared to sign off on it. The only extra thing the doctor had to do was conduct color vision and standard wall chart vision test. Your vision need not be perfect without glasses but if that is the case, you should expect a requirement to be written on your license requiring corrective lenses to be used and a spare pair to be available when on duty. If your medical form is accepted, you will be issued a separate medical form which is to be kept with your Merchant Mariner Credential.

The TWIC will be addressed below. Another form to be completed, this time by an authorized physician, is the DOT five-panel drug test. An applicant must submit proof of drug testing with no findings as determined by an authorized physician.

Also be aware that to work aboard any vessel in any compensated capacity, you must have proof of participation in a drug test program, whether it be one in which you elect to participate as an individual or one required by your marine employer. Such proof is to be carried with you at all times just as your license and medical certificate must be.

It is generally in the form of a letter attesting to your compliance and passing a test within 12 months of the date of the letter. One has always been required to agree to a criminal background and driving record check.

In fact, anyone working in the transportation sector air, rail, marine, trucking, etc. You will be investigated for any evidence of threat potential to national security. This is because as a licensed Captain, you may have access to vital and strategic marine facilities.

There is an application to complete and a fee to pay. Furthermore, you must appear in person so that your photo and fingerprints can be taken. This bio-metric data is stored on the TWIC card and protected by a pass code. Separately, a photograph of the applicant must accompany the application. It should be a state or federal government issued document. Others may be accepted but the applicant should verify this with the NMC before submitting the application to avoid processing delays.

An applicant is required to take a test that covers at least three areas of knowledge:. Deck General includes a wide variety of topics including fire and safety, terminology, and laws and procedures. Rules of the Road covers exactly what it says. Bear in mind that even if you are applying for an Inland or Near Coastal license, the Rules of the Road test will include elements of International Rules.

So when you are studying, do not neglect to familiarize yourself with those details. There are some variations in vessel precedence, sound signals, and lights and shapes displayed by vessels.

The same is true if you are additionally requesting an endorsement for Sail, Auxiliary Sail, or Commercial Assistance Towing. The net effect is more questions overall. The Navigation questions will require you to work with a chart to plot position, routes, and so forth.

You will receive a certificate of completion from the school to submit with your application in lieu of the Coast Guard exams; however, you will still take exams which include questions from the same list of questions that the Coast Guard uses. In the latter case, you will not need to pay an examination fee but obviously, you will have to pay a tuition for the course. The license application is not unlike many others. It is actually shorter than the medical form discussed earlier.

There are two things to note on the application:. Payment of all required application and examination fees is made online prior to submitting the application. You will receive a receipt which you should include with your application package. Pay close attention to the various fees and be sure you select all that apply but ONLY those that apply. An error either way will delay processing of your application. When you apply for an original license and especially if you plan to take the Coast Guard exams , you will need to present yourself in person with your complete application package at a USCG Regional Examination Center REC.

Photo ID will be necessary as well. One thing that happens if you appear in person is that you will raise your right hand and take the oath on the application. That was a very moving moment for me. Delivering your application package in person also allows you to interact with the personnel directly which could be very valuable if there are errors or omissions in your application package.

If you are not taking the Coast Guard exams and if you have been sworn by an authorized official, you may wish to submit your application by mail or electronically. Be aware that electronic submission has a limit on the size of the email attachment. My applications have always been larger than what is accepted by the Coast Guard mail servers.

The Coast Guard has implemented a very good system of tracking your application and providing feedback at every step of the way. You will receive emails as the application moves through the system. It may be less in smaller, less congested venues. By the way, you are not required to use the REC nearest to you.

If you wanted to fly to Hawaii or Alaska instead of driving into Baltimore, you may do so. A good friend of mine drove from New Jersey to Boston to submit his application there because he heard the processing times were less than for New York. Once the NMC has your package, the process usually will not take long at all. It is very likely you will receive 2 or 3 emails a day, often within minutes, as the application moves through the various approvals.

Nothing beats the feeling you will have when you get the final email saying that you have been approved and your credential is being printed! My original license took slightly more than two weeks from dropping off my application at Battery Park in New York to finding my MMC in my mailbox.

Once you get your license, look it over thoroughly. You may not necessarily have been granted the scope and rating you requested. Sometimes that reduction will be legitimate. Other times, it may be due to an honest mistake. Both my original and renewals had honest omissions. I was only granted a 50 ton rating on my original license when I had applied for tons. I submitted the sea service form supporting the request for tons after the fact and I received an endorsement sticker for the ton rating a week later.

Similarly with my renewal, I asked for an upgrade to tons. My renewal was approved at tons. When I contacted the NMC, they amended the approval and showed that I was then approved to take the required test for the ton upgrade.

So my message here is to not necessarily accept the delivered MMC as if it were carved in stone. Being a licensed Captain is a great source of pride to me. I have enjoyed working with my clients as well as pursuing other commercial opportunities like relief captain jobs on various schooners, water taxi and tow boat jobs, and tour boat and ferry captain work.

I look forward to many years of working on and enjoying the water. If you would like a one-on-one consultation to have your specific questions answered on this topic or others related to boating, please sign up for 30 minute video consultation with me!

Here is a selection of books that I personally recommend as the next step in your journey becoming a licensed boat captain. Hi, I am hoping you can help me out. I am trying to get my sea time documented but I am having a very hard time finding out how to do that since the station records were not computerized at that time. I have contacted the NMC and they told me to call the station to get an Abstract of Operations report. They just laughed at me when I called the station.

I have requested info from vetrecs. I was wondering if you knew how to go about getting the information that I need. Thanks for your question. Perhaps you can contact the Office of Personnel and try to get a copy of your service record. Alternatively, is there anyone at that small boat station who knew you? Would the OIC be willing to write a letter? The last and least likely option would be to fill out your own sea service form and see if anyone there would sign off on it for you.

Now the regulations speak of a Certificate of Discharge being acceptable. See for example 46 CFR If you already have that, you might be good to go! Let me know how you make out! Hi Captain Rob, My name is Elton the 66 year old owner of a small 35 ft. Kingscraft houseboat. I spend a lot of time on one large lake. The module requires you to physically work out problems on the chart using parallel rules and dividers to get answers.

All of the problems are solved on the top half of the chart so you can fold the bottom half under which makes the chart a manageable size. A parallel ruler is used in the Navigation Problems: Chart Plot Exam Module to plot positions and courses on the chart. If you have never used a parallel ruler before it seems strange but you will be good at it by the end of the Navigation Problems: Chart Plot Exam Module.

Dividers are used to measure distances on a chart. These particular dividers are the best possible set for solving problems in the Navigation Problems: Chart Plot Exam Module.