I am retiring (old fart) in the near future from commercial construction management. I am looking for a part-time on call boat delivery position or on call operator, power boats only, SE region. I have held a USCG license (OUPV) since 1991. My boating experience consists of operating/crew on barge push boats in marine/bridge construction (five state area in SE), dive charters (NC and SC), recreational boating- Maine (Boothbay Harbor area), NC coast (Morehead City to Sunset Beach), SC coast (Little River, Myrtle Beach, Charleston), FL east coast St. Augustine to Fort Pierce, Miami, FL west coast Sarasota to Tampa, Norfolk VA/Hampton Roads area. FA/CPR instructor. Scuba certs. and commercial diving school grad. Security clearances (TWIC, ATF - high explosives). Have moderate mechanical skills and boat electronics installation experience. Located in NC. Willing to listen and learn. Any suggestions? Thank you and safe boating.
part-time boat delivery employment question
- Thread starter comdiver1
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Comodave
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Welcome aboard. There was a thread on this subject a couple of weeks ago. Try a search to find it.
mvweebles
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I'm in La Paz, a cruisers nexus. Morning VHF net here has a section matching crew looking for a ride and vice versa. I've also met a few people schmoozing who are looking for rides. Some of these boats will need crew or delivery so if he's near a yachting center, try some of the coconut grapevine approaches to meeting people. Interesting side story that the skipper who was aboard a 39-foot sailboat that went on the rocks and sunk a couple weeks ago was looking for a ride. Predictably, given his experience, he ended up hitch hiking 4 hours to the highway and taking a bus back to SoCal.
OP has interesting credentials and experience. When I was first trying to break into deliveries, I tried offering myself up as crew to delivery skippers. I was met with an icy cold shoulder, one skipper was pretty blunt sbout telling me I was crazy if I thought he would train a potential competitor.
I ended up relying on dumb luck to break into deliveries. I met a guy from West Marine who needed to borrow a boat for a Safety at Sea demo in SF Bay. He recommended me to repeat the demo for Trawlerfest (WM was lead sponsor) so I then met the founder of that who wanted someone to help draw attendees to the boat show docks with on-water docking and MOB retrieval demos. He happened to be tight with PAE so I was off and running.
I also drove for a dinner cruise charter company on SF Bay (later sold to Hornblower). It was sort of an interesting gig driving a 65-foot and 82 foot motoryacht. There were some very interesting charters along the way (including an annual 'Swingers' get together who tipped very well), and it certainly honed my close quarter skills. The OP might consider pinging some of the small commercial outfits, even water taxis or towboat providers.
Peter
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psneeld
Guru
I got started with deliveries as a part time "delivery captain" for a Sea Ray transitioning to a Marine Max dealership.
At a dealership (well at least the one I worked for), most of the "delivery captains" are the people who introduce the boat buyers to their new boat. Their job is to go over the boat anchor to transom, and then give some limited instruction on how to dock/handle the boat. Some people wanted and paid the dealership for extra hours of instruction.
After a year or so of this, my reputation for knowledge and instructional ability caused many of the customers and the dealership to ask me for help inside AND outside the dealership to move vessels all over the Northeast and up and down the coast to Florida. That in turn started an avalanche of people wanting help or outright for captaining their boats or at least ride along for jack of all trades help.
I do have to say that most of my customers would up commenting that they chose me, not because of boat handling skills or systems knowledge (plenty of captains had those). They found my background in USCG aviation safety, attention to detail, and keeping my word important. So just maritime skills are important, but so are qualities many of these successful business people looked for when hiring people.
Another smaller help was my wife, who at the time was a real estate salesperson. Whenever she sold a waterfront home, she asked about whether there was an intention to buy a boat. If the answer was yes, she gave them a gift certificate for 4 hours of boat training from me. That helped, mainly for training and private captain gigs.
Lastly, my job as a NJ Boating Safety Certification instructor and an instructor for USCG captain's licensing also spread my name by word of mouth and landed me more work than I wanted as a "retired guy".
The biggest issue I can see with being a delivery captain is being away from home. Even though it was normal for me with my other career, now being retired (at least semi)... to earn a living as a delivery captain was not really an option. On those trips where my wife came along and for the occasional out of town cruise on someone else's budget was pretty sweet so part time was good.
On the subject that often gets discussed on one's future in boating after a certain age....there are so many paths. Between deliveries and the assistance towing job, I had enough water time and boat use to sell all of my boats and dabble in the RV world for a few years early on in my life. The RV time back then became valuable to me now that I sold the trawler. Seeing the places I used to visit by boat now by RV is fun and allows me to go places the boat never could.
As the other thread concerning what to do when operating/maintaining your own boat becomes too much, there's certainly enough to do and for the boating fix, I did downsize to 2 smaller boats that can travel when I RV and one to fish hard when in Florida and not on the road.
At a dealership (well at least the one I worked for), most of the "delivery captains" are the people who introduce the boat buyers to their new boat. Their job is to go over the boat anchor to transom, and then give some limited instruction on how to dock/handle the boat. Some people wanted and paid the dealership for extra hours of instruction.
After a year or so of this, my reputation for knowledge and instructional ability caused many of the customers and the dealership to ask me for help inside AND outside the dealership to move vessels all over the Northeast and up and down the coast to Florida. That in turn started an avalanche of people wanting help or outright for captaining their boats or at least ride along for jack of all trades help.
I do have to say that most of my customers would up commenting that they chose me, not because of boat handling skills or systems knowledge (plenty of captains had those). They found my background in USCG aviation safety, attention to detail, and keeping my word important. So just maritime skills are important, but so are qualities many of these successful business people looked for when hiring people.
Another smaller help was my wife, who at the time was a real estate salesperson. Whenever she sold a waterfront home, she asked about whether there was an intention to buy a boat. If the answer was yes, she gave them a gift certificate for 4 hours of boat training from me. That helped, mainly for training and private captain gigs.
Lastly, my job as a NJ Boating Safety Certification instructor and an instructor for USCG captain's licensing also spread my name by word of mouth and landed me more work than I wanted as a "retired guy".
The biggest issue I can see with being a delivery captain is being away from home. Even though it was normal for me with my other career, now being retired (at least semi)... to earn a living as a delivery captain was not really an option. On those trips where my wife came along and for the occasional out of town cruise on someone else's budget was pretty sweet so part time was good.
On the subject that often gets discussed on one's future in boating after a certain age....there are so many paths. Between deliveries and the assistance towing job, I had enough water time and boat use to sell all of my boats and dabble in the RV world for a few years early on in my life. The RV time back then became valuable to me now that I sold the trawler. Seeing the places I used to visit by boat now by RV is fun and allows me to go places the boat never could.
As the other thread concerning what to do when operating/maintaining your own boat becomes too much, there's certainly enough to do and for the boating fix, I did downsize to 2 smaller boats that can travel when I RV and one to fish hard when in Florida and not on the road.
Last edited:
psneeld
Guru
Just reread the OP....this may help too.
The Sea Tow assistance towing guy in Wilmington, NC and I talked one day.
He said for his operation, he was the only full time captain but he kept (I think he said) 14 guys on an "on call" basis for jobs in his area.
If you want bigger boat cruising, I know this isn't it..... but it is a great way to make contacts of all sorts.
The Sea Tow assistance towing guy in Wilmington, NC and I talked one day.
He said for his operation, he was the only full time captain but he kept (I think he said) 14 guys on an "on call" basis for jobs in his area.
If you want bigger boat cruising, I know this isn't it..... but it is a great way to make contacts of all sorts.
RT Firefly
Enigma
Greetings,
Mr. C1. Welcome aboard. ALL good suggestions, thus far and I cannot add to them.
An aside comment: Mr. mv. Your post #4. Swingers? "... it certainly honed my close quarter skills.". Hmmm....That comment generates a number of questions. This being a family site, I'll leave them unasked.
Mr. C1. Welcome aboard. ALL good suggestions, thus far and I cannot add to them.
An aside comment: Mr. mv. Your post #4. Swingers? "... it certainly honed my close quarter skills.". Hmmm....That comment generates a number of questions. This being a family site, I'll leave them unasked.
Turtle Blues
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Cruisersforum has a section: Crew Positions Wanted and Available
Also lots of discussion as to contracts, personal medical coverage etc.
Also lots of discussion as to contracts, personal medical coverage etc.
PirateDan
Member
I've found reasonable success quoting deliveries on UShip. Don't get caught up in the auction mentality and sell yourself short. I get all the deliveries I want at prices I deserve. Good fortune.
funding4
Newbie
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The hiring hall for licensed skippers is https://capca.net
Best Wishes & a Fist's distance between the devil & the bottom of the sea.
The hiring hall for licensed skippers is https://capca.net
Best Wishes & a Fist's distance between the devil & the bottom of the sea.
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