No, I'm not in the Navy: The Maritime Transportation Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > No, I'm not in the Navy: The Maritime Transportation Thread

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StopShootingMe: Jun 8, 2004; I can't believe I spent $5 on this title.

Not in America, buddy, insanely low interest rates are not universal

# ? Aug 17, 2012 05:45

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# ? May 17, 2024 13:10

Sirhc77: Jun 17, 2011

Yeah got a job!

I posted awhile back asking about joining some of the sailing unions but I decided to ditch that idea and got hired with Chouest out in the gulf. I've noticed a few questions about the gulf oil patch and while ive only been a out a short time I will try and answer any questions people might have.

# ? Aug 17, 2012 07:10

pazrs: Mar 27, 2005

Two Finger posted:

I think you need to understand this is a very, very lonely way of life. It is not a coincidence marine engineers have the highest suicide rate of ANY career - I believe it is over triple that of the average.

I don't think this is at all true, infact I don't think we are even in the top ten (morbid as it is).

Although we are miserable bastards and sit around the smoko room staring of into space hoping something crazy happens so we don't have to walk back down the pit and clean purifier discs.

# ? Aug 18, 2012 06:31

flashman: Dec 16, 2003

I'm currently on the back end of an 8 week hitch working on a subsea ROV ship on the east coast. A lot of people here onboard these supply and subsea boats have pretty good lives, most do 28 day rotations and you are in touch with shore most days. It's pretty intense schedule (we have done straight sixes for the whole trip and more when in port) but for the most part your shift is spent on the DP desk so it's not too physically demanding. Hard to keep in shape though and get motivated for the gym working sixes, and that midnight meal is killing the waist line.

I would think that the shorter your rotation gets the better it is for maintaining a healthy family life ashore (most people here are married with kids). For me it's not an issue that is why I'm going for the longer hitches but a lot can be said for being home each month. Personally I think a month is too short off but probably would change my tune if I had someone at home waiting.

# ? Aug 19, 2012 16:54

Fish Shalami: Feb 6, 2005; What is shalami?

FrozenVent posted:

Yeah, this. It's not a job, it's a lifestyle. This isn't something you do to find yourself. This isn't something you do to fund your traveling.

This job is your life. All of it.

Your friends will forget you ("Oh, I didn't realize you were in town!") and who can blame them? Your girlfriend will dump you ("It's not that I don't love you, I do, I really do, but you're never home. Maybe if you had a different job... I do love you..."), and really who can blame her?

Cause you're never home. And when you are home, you don't do nothing all day, you lazy sack of poo poo, and you keep talking about poo poo nobody understands.

At some point, either you break and just... Go with it, I guess. Accept your fate, keep shipping out more and more until you make Captain or Chief Engineer, leaving a trail of child support checks and rusted cars behind you. Or you buck, and depending on when you buck, you end up in college again with a cool story of how you were, like, a pirate, man, for a while or in an office or power plant somewhere.

Or, you know, installing windows in bumfuck nowhere because you were too old / in debt for college yet not experienced or certified enough for an office job. But waking up at 5:30 AM everyday to go install windows for $15/hr, well... That beats working on a boat.

This job will ruin your life as you know it. We loving mean that.

Hey, Two Fingers, did you get my PM?

This is gospel. I'm trying to get out of sailing now actually. It's fun if you don't give a gently caress about anything except money and time off, but to have a life at home is drat hard. You'd think with so much time off you'd have lots of time to hang out with people, but you quickly realize that everyone else works normal jobs and are usually too tired to go out partying on a tuesday night.

My last tour my friend died, my dog died, and my girlfriend dumped me all within a month of each other. Being on a ship when that kind of stuff happens is loving rough.

If I can't find anything shoreside or I get bored as hell, I can always go back to the hall and probably catch a job within a month.

Although I'm not going to like this pay cut to come ashore, a job I interviewed for last week was paying half of what I can make on ships sailing only 6 months. gently caress.

Fish Shalami fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Aug 19, 2012

# ? Aug 19, 2012 17:01

Sludge Tank: Jul 31, 2007; by Azathoth

I'm getting ready to do a 9 week stint to Antarctica for the first resupply trip of the season. Hoping to do the SIPEX trip (ramming ice bergs) early next year... apparently is really fun.

And sorry I wasn't being homophobic, it's just not a very welcoming sight to walk into the bar after a watch and find two hairy dudes going at it on the couch. Ha.

The offshore is really dry here at the moment, there's about to be like 200 dudes on the database looking for work so I snatched up the antarctic gig straight away, bit of a paycut but at least I can't spend anything while I'm away... and I'll be spending my 25th birthday on the ice!!

# ? Aug 21, 2012 13:35

Fish Shalami: Feb 6, 2005; What is shalami?

Sludge Tank posted:

I'm getting ready to do a 9 week stint to Antarctica for the first resupply trip of the season. Hoping to do the SIPEX trip (ramming ice bergs) early next year... apparently is really fun.

And sorry I wasn't being homophobic, it's just not a very welcoming sight to walk into the bar after a watch and find two hairy dudes going at it on the couch. Ha.

The offshore is really dry here at the moment, there's about to be like 200 dudes on the database looking for work so I snatched up the antarctic gig straight away, bit of a paycut but at least I can't spend anything while I'm away... and I'll be spending my 25th birthday on the ice!!

What ship? I was on a tanker that went down there a couple years ago, probably the coolest trip ever.

# ? Aug 21, 2012 16:47

Sludge Tank: Jul 31, 2007; by Azathoth

Aurora Australis. I have heard rumours it's getting replaced if they can keep the contract. would love to see the new icebreaker!

# ? Aug 22, 2012 09:12

lightpole: Jun 4, 2004; I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".

Fish Shalami posted:

This is gospel. I'm trying to get out of sailing now actually. It's fun if you don't give a gently caress about anything except money and time off, but to have a life at home is drat hard. You'd think with so much time off you'd have lots of time to hang out with people, but you quickly realize that everyone else works normal jobs and are usually too tired to go out partying on a tuesday night.

My last tour my friend died, my dog died, and my girlfriend dumped me all within a month of each other. Being on a ship when that kind of stuff happens is loving rough.

If I can't find anything shoreside or I get bored as hell, I can always go back to the hall and probably catch a job within a month.

Although I'm not going to like this pay cut to come ashore, a job I interviewed for last week was paying half of what I can make on ships sailing only 6 months. gently caress.

CA stationary starts at around $45/hr in SF if you want to go that way. Shift work is exactly 6 months of work and a bunch of vacation and OT worked in.

# ? Aug 23, 2012 20:29

nwin: Feb 25, 2002; make's u think

Any of you guys sail on oil/chemical/gas carrier tankships?

# ? Aug 24, 2012 02:13

lightpole: Jun 4, 2004; I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".

nwin posted:

Any of you guys sail on oil/chemical/gas carrier tankships?

I've been on oil, Fish Salami has been on oil/lng.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 04:08

Fish Shalami: Feb 6, 2005; What is shalami?

nwin posted:

Any of you guys sail on oil/chemical/gas carrier tankships?

I hope you like rules and no drinking.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 04:20

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

Fish Shalami posted:

I hope you like rules and no drinking.

This is also true on bulk carriers :eng99:

Well, ok, not so much the rules.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 04:48

Stratafyre: Apr 3, 2009

I work on a product tanker that's theoretically rated for chemicals, but we only ever carry clean oil.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 05:55

lightpole: Jun 4, 2004; I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".

Chevron has wet ships still but can't do anything about rules and paperwork. Box boats are nice cause they are almost always wet.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 11:26

pazrs: Mar 27, 2005

nwin posted:

Any of you guys sail on oil/chemical/gas carrier tankships?

Im an engineer on a 49000dwt products tanker.

Its pretty good, as a third you get about $140,000AUD and work 6 weeks on 6 off.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 14:03

nwin: Feb 25, 2002; make's u think

Fish Shalami posted:

I hope you like rules and no drinking.

No thanks. I'm with the Coast Guard and do Port State Control exams. I'm sure I'll be jumping in here from time to time to pick your brains on why things are the way they are. I just qualified on straight tank ships and will be working on Chemical and Gas carrier quals soon enough.

# ? Aug 24, 2012 18:31

Fish Shalami: Feb 6, 2005; What is shalami?

lightpole posted:

Chevron has wet ships still but can't do anything about rules and paperwork. Box boats are nice cause they are almost always wet.

The LNG ships I was on were wet ships, but they were foreign flagged so that's kind of an exception. We actually had a section on our officer evaluation which rated how social we were at the bar hour after work each night...which translates into whether or not you drank with the Captain and C/E

# ? Aug 24, 2012 23:22

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

For anyone interested, Great Lakes Warriors is on right now on History channel. From the intro, it looks like over dramatized reality drivel, but then I've never worked on a tug, so what do I know.

And of course, they used The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, jazzed up, for the opening theme.

# ? Aug 28, 2012 02:03

Stratafyre: Apr 3, 2009

Ohullo there, Tropical Storm Isaac :shepface:

. Turned a two day sea voyage into six days. At least it was interesting.

I keep staring in envy at all of the container ships cruising by. I hear they have time to actually leave the ship in port :allears:

# ? Aug 29, 2012 14:34

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

Stratafyre posted:

I keep staring in envy at all of the container ships cruising by. I hear they have time to actually leave the ship in port

Hey, anybody wanna chip in for a trip to Wal-Mart?

# ? Aug 29, 2012 15:19

afk/bandito: Nov 19, 2004; perpetually afk....

Hey folks. Just found this thread and am thinking about a career on the engineering side. I recently got out of the Coast Guard where I was a fireman. Basically an oiler/wiper. I have a lot of mechanical training and shipboard firefighting, etc. I'm not going to ask if I can skip certs, that's dumb. No one will let me. I'm good with getting what I need to get to be legally employed. I'm also not really interested in going to a maritime academy of any kind/I don't want to be an officer. I'd rather go to some type of machinery trade school. Also, I'm 30.

What I am going to ask is:
1 Will my CG experience help me land a job, even if I only received a general discharge (UHC)?
2 What type of money will I make starting as a wiper? http://www.mfoww.org/wage.htm Is what I've found but 15/hr seems really high to wipe up oil.
3 Can I start out in engineering or do I have to be on the deck side first?

These will have to do for starters. I'm sure more will come up.

# ? Aug 29, 2012 20:27

lightpole: Jun 4, 2004; I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".

afk/bandito posted:

Hey folks. Just found this thread and am thinking about a career on the engineering side. I recently got out of the Coast Guard where I was a fireman. Basically an oiler/wiper. I have a lot of mechanical training and shipboard firefighting, etc. I'm not going to ask if I can skip certs, that's dumb. No one will let me. I'm good with getting what I need to get to be legally employed. I'm also not really interested in going to a maritime academy of any kind/I don't want to be an officer. I'd rather go to some type of machinery trade school. Also, I'm 30.

What I am going to ask is:
1 Will my CG experience help me land a job, even if I only received a general discharge (UHC)?
2 What type of money will I make starting as a wiper? http://www.mfoww.org/wage.htm Is what I've found but 15/hr seems really high to wipe up oil.
3 Can I start out in engineering or do I have to be on the deck side first?

These will have to do for starters. I'm sure more will come up.

Wage is right. You should be able to get your documents pretty easily. Engineering and deck are two different ladders. The stewards department is the third but gently caress that.

You can find a wipers job pretty easily but its not like that translates into any real experience. I would recommend going in as an officer even if you only sail unlicensed. You will have a much higher rate, better skills and more opportunity.

Box boats get maybe 8-18 hours in port generally. Tankers spend a lot of time in port.

MFU is a decent union, electricians and reefers can make more than 3rds, 17k a month or so.

lightpole fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Aug 30, 2012

# ? Aug 30, 2012 07:50

Niven: Apr 16, 2003

poo poo thread voted 1 posted:

Is this the right thread to ask about working on an offshore oil platform? 'Cause I want to do that.

I've got a BS in Physics, and I'm about to get a Master of Science in Engineering (mechanical/fluids, to be specific). Is this experience useful to oil companies hiring people to work on platforms? I can also lift a weight, and as a grad student I'm well-acclimated to grueling 90-hour work weeks in the most isolated work environment possible.

How can I make this happen? What kind of people to oil companies look to hire for this stuff?

Not really so much maritime transportation related, but..

If you want to work offshore you've got two options:
1) Drilling engineer
A lot of oil companies will hire field drilling engineers that sort of sit on the rig and babysit, read out emails, pretend to care in safety meetings, and record performance parameters (or sometimes do more real work).

2) Service companies
Based on your post it looks like you want more of the hands on work, look into service companies like Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, Halliburton, etc.. The more technology driven companies would eat up someone with as much education as you. Positions you might look into include: mwd, directional drilling, mudlogging, drilling fluids, cementing, coiled tubing, wireline, completions, etc

# ? Sep 3, 2012 22:13

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

Edit: Holy poo poo, I made the mistake of watching another episode of Great Lakes Warrior. I say this as someone who routinely watch TLC: It's the worst reality show ever.

FrozenVent fucked around with this message at 06:46 on May 13, 2013

# ? Sep 3, 2012 22:35

Per: Feb 22, 2006; Hair Elf

Any goons working out of Aberdeen at the moment? The weather is crazy nice today, so I'm not regretting not requesting a transfer to more southern climes. Bet I'll change my tune when the autumn storms come though.

# ? Sep 4, 2012 13:20

Stratafyre: Apr 3, 2009

Almost quit again today :shepface:

This Captain is going to do whatever it takes to drive me off, and I don't think he's even doing it intentionally. It's like working with a belligerent Rainman.

# ? Sep 5, 2012 06:31

FrozenVent: May 1, 2009; The Boeing 737-200QC is the undisputed workhorse of the skies.

At least he's not doing it intentionally.

Hang in there, don't take it personally, and if you need to vent feel free to PM. In a couple months you'll be laughing about it.

Make sure you get plenty of entertainment on your time off, too. Movies, games, whatever. I know when I make the mistake of neglecting entertainment, I get really loving mad over stupid BS like that.

# ? Sep 5, 2012 06:35

Stratafyre: Apr 3, 2009