Deck hand position

[Tam & Di]

On 29/12/2021 at 14:49, Phoenix_V said:

For anyone who has worked a UK narrowboat such as one of the fuel boats I imagine this would be very much a holiday.

I don't know if there's a hint of irony there. I'm not putting down the capability of UK fuel boat skippers, but Frank is rather underplaying the skills and knowledge involved. There's obviously opportunity to learn in the role of deck hand, but you'd be mixing it with the big boys of 2000t+. To note a few of the hurdles, you'd have to have sufficient German to communicate on VHF with other skippers, lock keepers etc; you'd have to know the CEVNI rules inside out in that environment or you'd get into serious problems very quickly; 12 hour days at this time of year involve a lot of night time boating and steering by radar; you'd have to be on top of the enormous amount of bureaucracy and paperwork requirements involved in day-to-day running, certification and maintenance.

 

I'm sure it's doable, but it's no romantic idyll.

 

Tam

[Phoenix_V]

9 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

I don't know if there's a hint of irony there. I'm not putting down the capability of UK fuel boat skippers, but Frank is rather underplaying the skills and knowledge involved. There's obviously opportunity to learn in the role of deck hand, but you'd be mixing it with the big boys of 2000t+. To note a few of the hurdles, you'd have to have sufficient German to communicate on VHF with other skippers, lock keepers etc; you'd have to know the CEVNI rules inside out in that environment or you'd get into serious problems very quickly; 12 hour days at this time of year involve a lot of night time boating and steering by radar; you'd have to be on top of the enormous amount of bureaucracy and paperwork requirements involved in day-to-day running, certification and maintenance.

 

I'm sure it's doable, but it's no romantic idyll.

 

Tam

I was thinking more in terms of the amount of hard physical work rather than the skill. The person concerned would be starting as a deckhand so presumably plenty of time to learn the technical!