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lightpole posted:But school is not fun Can you expand on this? I didn't go to school in the US so I don't know what that is like, but mine seemed a very normal school experience.
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Sep 6, 2012 22:09
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Almost all male, paramilitary structure, you have to cover a huge amount of material so you are taking well over 20 units a semester of challenging classes. At CMA we didn't have to square our corners, have room inspections or anything big but it still wasn't great. I found it hard to just relax mentally while I was there.
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Sep 6, 2012 23:08
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My school wasn't paramilitary, and we didn't live on campus. Even the dorms were a way away (Like 20 minutes' walk) and we shared them with the regular college students. Meaning girls, and people who'd talk about stuff-that-is-not-boats. I can't imagine what it would have been like in a context where you're not even allowed to leave campus. But yeah, the coursework is loving brutal. As in I've seen a guy flunk an exam because of a misplaced coma in a regulation he was citing from memory.
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Sep 6, 2012 23:16
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lightpole posted:Almost all male, paramilitary structure, you have to cover a huge amount of material so you are taking well over 20 units a semester of challenging classes. At CMA we didn't have to square our corners, have room inspections or anything big but it still wasn't great. I found it hard to just relax mentally while I was there. How you guys survive in CMA in terms of money? I mean how is it possible to go 3-4 years without any income?
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Sep 6, 2012 23:33
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Its a CSU so in state tuition is pretty cheap, at least when I went there it was about $4000-5000 a semester with two trips on the Bear and another on a commercial ship. Somewhere around $50k total. I think tuition has increased 20% or so since which puts it at $60ish now. Still very cheap since the actual cost of educating engineers, especially licensed graduates, FE/EITs and ME's is much higher. Keep in mind the whole business class is there to subsidize the engineering class, not actually get an education. If you are hurting for money there were quite a few on campus work programs where you could pick up spare change. A lot of students grabbed part time maritime related jobs, Hornblower was a favorite or whatever else they could find off campus. Another good option is to get a decent paying commercial ship like Scripps. You wont have the benefit of a larger, more complex vessel but you will make $7-12 grand or so. You get maybe 2 months off in the summer to find something maritime (Scripps, fishing vessel) or industry related. Crockett Cogen also takes on interns for a very good hourly. Finally, I have known students that weren't the brightest but had a decent reputation among faculty but were short several classes or a semester have loan offers from faculty so they wouldn't have to take a year off to work for funds. With the class schedule, there is very little opportunity to catch up if you fall behind. Even worse, falling behind can easily put you behind a whole year as there are plenty of classes offered once a year that are unavailable at UCB or Sonoma with prerequisites you need on time. Som classes like Power Engineering are only offered at CMA. Edit: Having to go back for one or two classes is a killer. No matter how easy it looks, it is a crushing experience and stops a surprising number of people from graduating. lightpole fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 00:56
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I thought of you guys today when I came out of my room and saw two guys taking apart the vacuum system and draining a bucketfull of poo poo from a pipe. Someone flushed a paper towel  (it wasn't me!)
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Sep 7, 2012 02:29
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FrozenVent posted:
I'm going to follow you around the forums emptyquoting this from now on. Niven posted:I thought of you guys today when I came out of my room and saw two guys taking apart the vacuum system and draining a bucketfull of poo poo from a pipe. Someone flushed a paper towel gently caress This is seriously the worst thing ever
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Sep 7, 2012 02:33
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It's true.
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Where I went to school, the standard was to try and keep as much as you could from your internships (Not a whole lot, the minimum back then was 600$ a month; it's up to 900$ now, with decent companies paying 1200$) and pick up jobs on your months off (The summer after second year, the summer before third year). The Canadian Coast Guard was popular; people would go work there as deckhands or ABs over the summer. I know one person who worked part time while doing nautical science and graduated on time. She's pretty loving exceptional. I make it a point to be nice to her, because I except she'll be running a shipping company pretty soon. Two Finger posted:gently caress You've been on cruise ships long enough, don't you have a list of "Things I've fished out of a vacuum system" yet? I once clogged one up with poo poo, just poo poo. True story. The engineers didn't believe I hadn't flushed something else in there.
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Sep 7, 2012 04:38
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Two Finger posted:I'm going to follow you around the forums emptyquoting this from now on. Kinetic Rim Gun's are your friend. Edit: Request thread title change to "Which smart c**t flushed hand towel?"
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Sep 7, 2012 09:50
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My quality of life has improved dramatically, since I have taught my AB ( Who is from Ghana ) the lyrics to Gangnam Style.
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Sep 8, 2012 05:59
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pazrs posted:Kinetic Rim Gun's are your friend. The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask / Tell > Maritime Transportation Megathread: All About the Kinetic Rim Guns What the gently caress are those things? Don't tell me, I'm sure my mental image is even more awesome than reality could ever be. Stratafyre posted:My quality of life has improved dramatically, since I have taught my AB ( Who is from Ghana ) the lyrics to Gangnam Style. I had an AB who was obsessed - and not in a good way - with Miley Cyrus. That was a fun two months.
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Sep 8, 2012 06:04
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As the Ocean Atlas has shown, noone gives a poo poo about us. gently caress you government.
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Sep 8, 2012 06:58
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You're gonna have to be more precise than that. How did the government shaft you over this time? Can you show us on the doll where the invisible hand touched you?
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Sep 8, 2012 13:12
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FrozenVent posted:You're gonna have to be more precise than that. How did the government shaft you over this time? Venezuela Arrests U.S. Captain Of Cargo Ship Ocean Atlas
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Sep 8, 2012 17:26
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I've never been on a civilian vessel where we had rifles. It just seems like asking for, well, that kind of trouble. Still, it's a loving ridiculous situation. I had a friend spend two weeks in an African country because the government arrested the ship for damaging the pier; I don't think the embassy was ever even informed.
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Sep 8, 2012 18:00
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The Huff Post posted:Weapons are common on commercial ships and are often deemed necessary as possible defense against pirates or other threats.
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Sep 9, 2012 01:38
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StopShootingMe posted:Um, never in my experience. Way too much trouble with foreign authorities. Other seafaring goons, have you been on ships with weapons (warships and government excepted), or is this another case of the media not knowing a drat thing about the maritime industry but throwing their opinion around just the same? A guy on my first ship served his cadetship on a tanker that had a rifle on board. Other than that, I've never heard of it. quote:the media not knowing a drat thing about the maritime industry but throwing their opinion around just the same?
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Sep 9, 2012 01:43
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The cruise ship I was on might or might not have had guns onboard (That's no poo poo the answer I got when I asked.) They had skeet shooting rifles in the past, but got rid of them when they became too much trouble with customs... And something about the environment. Otherwise, I've never even seen so much as a can of pepper spray. Ships landing supplies in the Arctic might have rifles to deal with polar bears and poo poo; I know the Coast Guard carries them. I'll check.
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Sep 9, 2012 01:50
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The only ships Im aware of have something to do with the government. Its easy to spot them cause they require small arms certs within five years. Otherwise its more trouble than they are worth. Companies would rather lose the money in the captains safe than have a gunfight on board a ship. The only current exception is around the Horn but that's what security teams are for.
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Sep 13, 2012 10:30
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I was informed by a third party today that the reason this Captain nitpicks and derides me so often is apparently, quote; "He wants to be a dentist." As in, like Herbie the Elf. Apparently, someone not wanting to sail forever is reason enough to make their life a living hell  34 more days in crazy town before I get the hell out.
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Sep 16, 2012 05:46
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Stratafyre posted:I was informed by a third party today that the reason this Captain nitpicks and derides me so often is apparently, quote; You tell the skipper you want to become a dentist instead of a sailor and you don't expect him to ride your rear end and razz you constantly then I don't know where you did your sea time man. He is probably lobbying with the office to get you off the ship as well so you might have an easy time of it at least. Ships doing cargo in the arctic carry bear men depending on where they are working. They carried a 30-06 on the tanker I was working on. Besides that I have never seen a gun "officially" on a ship, although some of the hands used to take their rifles aboard during hunting season. I'm signing off tommorow. Good first hitch as an officer; finished off all the dp time I can get before my simulator course so I'm only a month away from an unlimited ticket, and logged 3 months of good unlimited time for ticket. Too long a hitch doing subsea work though, 12 hours of dp a day gets to you after a while, especially in the busy summer season when we only get in for a 12 or 18 hour turnaround.
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Sep 18, 2012 23:26
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flashman posted:You tell the skipper you want to become a dentist instead of a sailor and you don't expect him to ride your rear end and razz you constantly then I don't know where you did your sea time man. He is probably lobbying with the office to get you off the ship as well so you might have an easy time of it at least. He's making a reference to This Christmas Special. I have no desire to be a dentist.
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Sep 19, 2012 05:10
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Received a verbal warning from the Captain for not having enough lines out on the 8x12 when we slowed down to bottom blow.
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Sep 22, 2012 01:18
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That sounded gay. What's a bottom blow? Is it a thing engineers do when they can't find women? I've gotten poo poo for not having enough lines out on the 8-12, but I've never heard of a bottom blow.
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Sep 22, 2012 01:23
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What do you guys mean about lines out on the 8-12?
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Sep 22, 2012 02:16
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Similar to having lines out on the 4-8 or the 12-4 but the OOW's more likely to be the FNG and thus get yelled at.
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Sep 22, 2012 02:39
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Only had one line out and had a mahi on in the 1st 10 minutes. It slipped the hook before we could get it in.Probably could have gotten a couple if we had more lines out. 8-12 is 0800-01200 in the AM. A bottom blow is when you open up the drains to the mud drum on the boiler for a couple seconds and blow out sediment accumulating in it. Have to slow down and shut down a boiler to do it and we were ahead of schedule anyways which meant a good two hours of fishing.
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Sep 22, 2012 03:26
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Hahaha, holy poo poo, I thought you guys were talking about being alongside or something, I didn't realise you meant fishing.
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Sep 22, 2012 03:32
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Two Finger posted:Hahaha, holy poo poo, I thought you guys were talking about being alongside or something, I didn't realise you meant fishing. Ahaha, I was confused too. Who is still running steamships on the oceans, anyway? We only talk about them in terms of the Lakes. Some of my nerdier classmates can probably name every steamboat on the Lakes and tell me if it's turbine or recip.
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Sep 22, 2012 03:44
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It's normal to slow down to do boiler blowdowns, we did it all the time - auxiliary boilers still need the same care as regular ones.
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Sep 22, 2012 04:20
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Matson, Seariver and Horizon still have steamships although they are around 40 years old. It takes two of them to match the capacity and speed of a modern ship although with new fuel rules coming into effect modern diesels are having problems with lubricity. Modern engines arent designed to run on low sulfur diesel for an extended period of time at sea speeds, the fuel doesnt have the lubricating ability and increasing cylinder oil can gum up the cylinders. Steam ships are still grandfathered in. Matsons diesels are spending an extra $1 mil/trip on fuel in CA due to emissions. The maintenance costs is going to be up there as well Im sure. The Horizon Spirit blew out their bottom blow valve when they went to bottom blow. They found a pretty bad leak and shut down the boiler, the chief welded a new valve on and then they blew it off when they were in port and had to evacuate the engine room. Also holy poo poo steam recip.
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Sep 22, 2012 05:41
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Two Finger posted:It's normal to slow down to do boiler blowdowns, we did it all the time - auxiliary boilers still need the same care as regular ones. Haha, I feel stupid now. It's come time for me to request a commercial sea project, and since I'll be due to sail starting in December instead of May I get to escape the lakes for a semester. I wanna see a big slow speed diesel.
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Sep 22, 2012 19:34
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shovelbum posted:Haha, I feel stupid now. We have those on the lakes  
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Sep 22, 2012 22:37
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But do you have any up and downers 
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Sep 23, 2012 00:03
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shovelbum posted:But do you have any up and downers Wassat? Our boats go all the way down to Sept-Iles. Heck, we got lake boats going all the way down to Belledune, New Burnswick (  ) so as far as going down... And up... We got the boats.
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Sep 23, 2012 01:00
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Jeremiah_O%27Brien Move to SF and volunteer since noone else knows how triple expansion works anymore. Literally noone. But seriously, both of you get out. Applied to Chevron and asked my last cheng for help since he sailed for them and has all sorts of contacts. I need to write a decent coverletter and then update my resume. When people are writing resumes do they list all the ships they have been on or just go by company or union when they list work?
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Sep 24, 2012 05:40
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Early on I'd list all the ships, but now I just do positions company and date, then in the blurb a quick description of vessel type, size and trading area. I'm up to something like 15 different ships now...
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Sep 24, 2012 12:07
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Shovelbum, I'm a prospective student for the GLMA deck program. Haven't been able to contact you on aim. Get at me: astronautsoffduty at g mail. Really interested in hearing more about opportunities on Research Vessels, particularly with UNOLS and NOAA, though I'm interested in hearing about opportunities with Scripps/Stony Brook/WHOI as well. Unless I become financially burdened and need to make a ton of money in the offshore shipping or drilling industry, I plan on working with R/Vs. I've heard from everyone in the Maritime industry that although the pay isn't great, it's the funnest job they've ever had. A commenter mentioned experience with NOAA earlier on in the thread. It wasn't clear to me whether or not NOAA only employs deck officers who are part of the NOAA Corps. Are most of the employed mariners civilians? Do they receive the same benefits and job security as a Corps member? I'd absolutely love to join the corps, but my B.A. isn't in a scientific field. Therefore, I'd like to explore possibilities of working with NOAA through the civilian side. If anyone can comment I'd love to hear back from ya.
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Sep 24, 2012 19:41
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Most of the NOAA deck officers are corps members. There are a few mates and masters however that are civilians. They go through normal licencing procedures. Not that I have much reference, but it makes for an interesting work environment compared to other ships. Most civilians serving as mates in NOAA came up though the hawespipe- many after being ABs or the Chief Bosun. They get benefits as other Federal Wage Mariners, though licensed guys also can belong to unions. These benefits are different from what corps members get, which essentially follow what the military provides. NOAA ships do go to some pretty neat places, and depending on the crew, scientists, work, and mostly you're own attitude can make for a pretty fun and unique environment to work and live. NOAA takes lots of student interns (both maritime and scientific)- there are options for that if you're interested. Try this link for more information: http://www.moc.noaa.gov/shipjobs/index.html Smaller R/Vs (<100ft) are frequently used by NOAA and other research groups- try contacting some of the operators directly for more information about those.
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Sep 24, 2012 22:22
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astronautsoffduty posted:Shovelbum, I'm a prospective student for the GLMA deck program. Haven't been able to contact you on aim. Get at me: astronautsoffduty at g mail. Oh, I had aim off lately and didn't even notice, hit me up, I'm really bad with email.
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Sep 25, 2012 00:36
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