Chief Mate to Master STCW

[captmike]

Is there an expiration on any of the CM to Master STCW courses?
I cannot take them all at once, I will be completing them one at a time over what will turn out to be a long period of time, possibly 3 - 5 years.

[mike173]

None that I'm aware of. It took me 3 years to the month. The only thing I'm aware of is that Watchkeeping Week 1 (Bridge Resource Management) and Watchkeeping Week 2 (COLREGS) must taken within 12 months of each other. Other than that, there's no expirations on any of the courses that I've heard of.

[jdcavo]

There is no time limit to complete the courses. As noted above, some schools have elected to split some of their courses and if so, the approval of the course may set a time limit to complete all parts of that one course. Apart from that, there is no time limit for completing all of the courses.
James D. Cavo

Chief, Mariner Training & Assessment Division

USCG National Maritime Center

<font color="#3354aa]James.D.Cavo@uscg.mil</font>

[Jeffrox]

During the courses one can get most of the assesment sheets signed off; but what about the "at-sea" assesments if say you are on a vessel like a large OSV or something that doesn't have a Unlimited CM/Master onboard?

[anchorman]

Jeffrox,
There are a few Masters and Chief Mates working on the large anchorboats that will be available for captmike a Chouest, but he will hit the same wall that I did when trying to get the Master license. With an extended 9,000 ton OSV license being issued in the near future, I certainly does question the need for anyone to upgrade as an OSV mariner. That's a lot of time, effort, and money into something just to say you got it, but with Chouest buying Tampa Bay Shipbuilding, it is certainly worth the personal investment if you have years left in your career. There are several large construction ships on the drawing board.