If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

[freelancer]

Over the years I have come across many hard working men and women that earn their livelihoods on or around the water. Most of them do it because they love what they do, not because they'll get rich doing it. I spent more than half of my adult life working on boats but for the last few years I have been behind a desk and on my boat as much as possible. I spent time on ferries, tugs, excursion boats and rescue boats; I also ran a boat detail business. If you have a story to share, let's hear it.

 

[Jack Shellac]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

My whole family has worked on or around the water for generations past. My grandfather and uncles were locktenders and my father and cousins were riverboat pilots and captains. Although I have never worked on the boats except in the summers when I was young, they have have always been part of my life. I can remember as a kid seeing the last of the working steam-powered stern-wheelers, the "Sylph" going through my uncles lock with a load of barges. We kids knew the boats like the town kids knew models of autos. We knew the horsepower, relative speed and how many barges they could push in their tow. Knew most of the crew, too. Those days are gone for the most part.

 

[marine4003]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

When i was 22, a friend asked me to go with him to deliver a boat from Charleston,SC to Annapolis MD, I was hooked, so i mated for the next 2 years for a delivery company out of Miami..delivering boats all over the U.S & Europe 4 times. Got my Capt.License,and delivered boats for 6 years. sometimes didn't see home for months.Got offered a job being Capt for a Coffee Importer out of Miami, he owned a 85' Feadship, Called -The Grind, stayed with him 5 years, when he sold the boat i came home, got bored quick, bought a retired offshore race hull, built 2 700HP motors then found i needed a dock,as the local marinas were in-water,dry storage trashes the boat. built ,with some help, a 75' fixed dock 15 x 25 T-head and had a IMM lift installed..neighbor asks me to build him one.TCGLLC was started, for the next 4 years we installed over 120 docks, I hired a foreman who had worked for Cape Romain Marine..branched out into Bulkheads , Seawalls ,Dredging , Salvage then added Delivery..So between 1- 65' pile drive barge / 1 -52' dredge bardge..1- 60' spoilage barge (unpowered) 2 - small tugs - 4 Carolina Skiffs , 1 Bobcat Skid steer -1 Bobcat 430 Compact Excavator,ect... plus my personal armada..Scarab (newer) Celebrity 22 , BW 13 ,Stratos w/150 Suzuki, and a POS jetski...i spend ALOT of time on the water ( when I'm not doing PAPERWORK)

 

[freelancer]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

Those are great stories guys, I am actually the first in my family to have ventured into the marine industry, I was a city kid that spent a lot of time on the banks of the Delaware River fishing and hanging out and over the years I was drawn closer to the water. My first boat was a 12ft. Lowe with a 28lb thrust Minn Kota trolling motor (not too good for a tidal river with a current that can run up to 5 knots at places). Got a job on a ferry as a deckhand and worked my way up to master. I'll be processing the paperwork for my 3rd license renewal in January. There's more to my story later, looking for more of yours.

 

[marine4003]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

Those are great stories guys, I am actually the first in my family to have ventured into the marine industry, I was a city kid that spent a lot of time on the banks of the Delaware River fishing and hanging out and over the years I was drawn closer to the water. My first boat was a 12ft. Lowe with a 28lb thrust Minn Kota trolling motor (not too good for a tidal river with a current that can run up to 5 knots at places). Got a job on a ferry as a deckhand and worked my way up to master. I'll be processing the paperwork for my 3rd license renewal in January. There's more to my story later, looking for more of yours.

I love the new licenses...look like a passport,same size same format..away with the old bulky, dumb a** stock.

 

[freelancer]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

I love the new licenses...look like a passport,same size same format..away with the old bulky, dumb a** stock.

It seems that some thing is different each time I go for a renewal. Things really changed from time before September 11, 2001 and my last renewal in 2005.

 

[IVAZ]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

I had a job that lasted two years working on the coastline. We were setting elevation monuments along the Galveston beach for the Army Core of Engineers. Every concrete column that has a brass disc on top of it along the beach had its elevation set by me. We started falling behind the last few months so we had to start working 7 days a week. Our company policy was that if you worked on Sunday it was double time. Sundays were awesome (the women sporting bikini's didn?t hurt either). Only job I have ever had that I could show up wearing shorts and sandals.

 

[freelancer]

Re: If you make a living on the water...what's your story?

Talk about an awesome awesome story, thanks
Bubba1235.
It seems that there is always some happening in life that helps chart your course.

When I was about 12 or 13 there was a bad flood on the river... That was my real introduction to working on engines in a major way.


Just sitting on water or even the bank and watching the river flow past, the play of eddies, the coming and going of wild life and the smell of water is, well, if there is a heaven it's got to have a great river...

Yea heaven on earth.