All in a days work, what a marine technician actually does.

Ever though about a career as a marine technician? I cannot comment on professional seafarers working on large ships which is very different to recreational and small commercial boats which is what I work with. Todays post is all about what we might do during the working day. This is by no means an exhaustive list but covers the major areas.

Not everything on this list applies to every workplace, some technicians specialize in only one area, whereas others like me, move from one discipline to another, I have enough experience to know when I need to get someone more skilled than me though, it is impossible to be proficient in all areas.

The most important skill is knowing and loving boats, the technical part comes later, at heart a good marine tech knows how boats should perform, how they move, how they breathe, the sounds, the limits and quite probably some common problems and how to overcome them.

I would like to see younger people coming into the industry. When you tell people you work with boats they assume you mean you walk decks and docks in a blazer and cravat, topping up champagne and rubbing in tanning oil, nothing is further than the truth, don´t misunderstand, it has its days, skipping across the Mediterranean in millions of Euros worth of boats, "testing" the boat is nothing short of breathtaking, there will be many more days however of sweating like a beast of burden, swearing in several languages and wondering why on earth you ever though boats were a good idea, indeed, I have written about many common problems and how to solve them to avoid this very scenario.

Be in no doubt working with boats and around boat people is rewarding in so many ways, meeting people from so many walks of life, all with a common interest is quite wonderful.

If you think a career around boats or as a tech is for you, my first piece of advice would be to get qualified to operate a boat, any qualifications involving science or computing will be useful too, mostly an interest in how things work.  Unless pursuing a career in naval architecture I would not say a university degree necessarily helps.

 

Start at same time (usually)

This is about the only thing that's the same each day, as for finishing time, that very much depends on how the day goes. Some technicians work in specific parts of the boat, such as electronics installations, mechanical or fibreglass as examples, they might have more scheduled working hours.

Read manuals

Usually the last thing that most people do, actually read a manual, well, technicians read a lot of manuals, installation manuals or service manuals are the most used. Manual labour, why books are so important.

What is it we are looking for? Wiring diagrams, reset instructions, torque specs, minimum wiring size and fusing requirements are the most common things we need to reference.

I have a vast collection of manuals, both in their original paper format and on a laptop in electronic format (backed up into various clouds for safe keeping), the computer or tablet is fast replacing the toolbox as the most important thing you will be taking with you.

Parts catalogues are another important publication you should be familiar with, who sells what, which distributors represent which brands and so on. Parts catalogues are critical to the smooth functioning of a workshop.

New technology

Technology changes quickly, on boats it tends to be more evolution rather than revolution, but we need to be at the very least aware of new items on the market. Emails, forums and trade shows are examples of where we might get our information from. The largest annual trade show for boat parts and an excellent way of keep up to date is METS in Amsterdam.

Get updated on certificates

Renewing certificates (does this make us certifiable?), is a very important part of being a nautical technician, indeed, a lot of boatyards will not let you work on their premises if you have outdated certificates of certain types. Certifications tend to be split into two distinct areas, obligatory and useful or optional.

Obligatory certifications include (but not limited to), health and safety at work, this is standard for most companies but in the boatyard we typically need to attend a course specific to the kinds of hazards you might encounter there and also some site specific rules. Firefighting is another obligatory course, although common to other sites, fires around boats and yards have some specifics.

I am going to include your annual recertification's as pretty compulsory and there can be a lot. If you work for a company that sells boats or motors for example, in order to retain the official dealership quite often the manufacturers require technicians to attend courses both online and in person. Some courses require you to have passed online exams prior to attending a course in person, these can form part of ongoing education and lead to product specific professional qualifications, this is common practice with marine engine manufacturers.

Optional courses or certifications are mostly to showcase new technologies and new products, I recently was on some courses for new battery technology and management. No matter how much experience and knowledge you have, you are always learning something new.

Quoting and pricing jobs

This is a major part of daily work, especially as you progress in your career, clients ask for prices, everything from basic service work right up to major refits. This is where all that reading and those courses comes into practice, if you are not familiar with the boat for the requested quotes, a visit is arranged and the scope of works discussed. If there are multiple areas to be quoted for, then several visits are quite normal, carpentry, upholstery, electrical all require different skill sets, it takes years to become familiar with them all and I have never met anyone who can do all the work.

Some of the most common quotes are for polishing, stereo upgrades and new navigation electronics.

Fix and install things

Yes, we had to get there eventually, fixing things is a major part of the day, assisting others fixing things is another part, especially when you are learning or apprenticing (you will always be learning, no matter how many years experience you have). Depending upon the schedule you could be part of a team, where there will be several repairs running simultaneously.

Fixing things is a very broad term and really in itself doesn't mean much, it varies from simple fault finding, blown fuses, broken cables and easy reasons to explain why a repair is needed, up to electronic diagnostics for engines.

Repairs are one of my favourite parts of the job, especially if you can improve on the original, not just repair something to the same, possibly inferior standard that it could be, make the wiring neater, install a fuse in an easier to access place, label some items for the next time, maybe even prevent a future problem from occurring.

Prepare new boats

This is more for if you work at a boat dealership, when new boats are sold, technicians will go on board and check everything is working as it should, there is usually some paperwork involved too. Working on new boats is a great way to see the newest technologies and systems.

Prepare secondhand boats

Brokerage boats or trade ins that get sold go through a similar process to new boats, everything has to be checked to be working correctly. This process is a good time to make a note of anything that needs fixing, revising, servicing or upgrading.

Handovers

The salespeople or brokers sell boats, they may or maybe not  be technically minded, often a technician will de responsible for handing over a boat to a client. Depending upon who you are handing the boat over to will govern what happens, if it is a large boat with a full time captain or an owner with a lot of experience they might just need to know where deck fillers are, circuit breakers, valves and other items that differ in their location from boat to boat.

If the handover is to a new boat owner then the handover will be very different and apart from showing them how all the systems work and where things are located that they may need to have access to, you may well go out on the boat with them and show them how to get the best from it.

Sea trials

This is something I enjoy doing, new boats before delivery require testing and a sea trial before being handed over to the owner. Boats that came in for service or a major repair will need testing to ensure there are no more interventions required, a bit like a garage will test drive a car after service.

New electronics, especially auto pilots when newly fitted need a sea trial and calibration process. If you hold a suitable license for certain boats and the sales department does not have personnel with the right license you may end up sea trialing boats as part of the sales process.

The more sea trials you are part of, the more you get a "feel" of how a boat should perform and navigate, this is so helpful when trying to diagnose faults.

Surveyor assistance

Working with marine surveyors is an important role for a technician, some technicians are also marine surveyors, but they are few and far between. When a boat sale is going through, a normal and important part of the process is a survey, it is sometimes obligatory for insurance purposes if the boat is over a certain age or over a certain value.

A surveyor cannot possibly know how every piece of kit on every boat made. A technician, especially one who is very familiar with a particular brand of boat will assist the surveyor by showing them the location of certain items, supply maintenance logs and also assist with testing of items on board. A lot of boat sales have stopped at the survey stage due to not being able to verify operation of important systems.

Summary

So there it is then, as I wrote at the beginning, this is by no means an exhaustive list, you can get involved in many more projects, that I think is part of the appeal. I hope this has interested enough people that they might be interested in pursuing a career as a marine technician. The key takeaways I would like to emphasize are;

• Varied work, lots of different disciplines. In some cases, different workplaces, I have been lucky enough to have been sent to different countries, not only for repairs and handovers but also to attend courses and trade shows.

• Always learning something new.

• Mix of new technology and more traditional work.

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